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CITY  PLANNING 
For  MILWAUKEE 

WHAT  IT  MEANS  AND  WHY  IT  MUST  BE  SECURED 

A  REPORT  SUBMIHED  TO 

THE  WISCONSIN  CHAPTER  of  tLe  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ARCHITECTS, 

THE  CITY  CLUB, 

THE  MILWAUKEE  REAL  ESTATE  ASSOCIATION, 

WESTMINSTER  LEAGUE, 

SOUTH  SIDE  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

By  DR.  WERNER  HEGEMANN 


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MILWAUKEE 
FEBRUARY,  1916 


JOHN  NOLEN    ^  | 

MEMORIAL  COLLECTION       J    | 
CITY  AND  REGIONAL  )     , 

PLANNING  ,' 


i^^DfCAPE  ARCHITECT 

AND  PIONEER  PLANNER 

1869-1937 

THE  LIBRARY  OF  THP 
UNZVHRSITVorNO^Kr^^^rROUN. 


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00021755940 


This  book  is  due  at  the  LOUIS  R.  WILSON  LIBRARY  on  the 
last  date  stamped  under  "Date  Due."  If  not  on  hold  it  may  be 
renewed  by  bringing  it  to  the  library. 

DATE         ,          „pT 

DATE 

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CITY  PLANNING 
FOR  MILWAUKEE 

WHAT  IT  MEANS  AND  WHY  IT  MUST  BE  SECURED 


A  REPORT  SUBMITTED  TO 

THE  WISCONSIN  CHAPTER  of  tKe  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ARCHITECTS, 

THE  CITY  CLUB, 

THE  MILWAUKEE  REAL  ESTATE  ASSOCIATION, 

WESTMINSTER  LEAGUE, 

SOUTH  SIDE  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

Bvj  DR.  WERNER  HEGEMANN 


MILWAUKEE 
FEBRUARY,   1916 


■c-tAU, 


CITY  PLANNING  FOR  MILWAUKEE 

WHAT  IT  MEANS  AND  WHY  IT  MUST  BE  SECURED. 


SCOPE  OF  THE  REPORT. 

City  planning  is  as  comprehensive  a  subject  as  medicine,  law  or  natural  science 
and  its  principles  cannot,  of  course,  be  exhausted  in  a  short  paper.  Nor  can  a 
more  or  less  superficial  survey  of  a  city's  present  plan  and  its  possible  future  re- 
quirements lead  to  recommendations  covering  all  phases  of  city  planning.  All  that 
shall  be  attempted  here  is  to  touch  on  some  of  such  salient  features  as  ought  to  be 
of  special  interest  to  a  Milwaukee  public  and  as  may  lead  to  a  clear  understanding 
of  the  term  "city  planning." 

THE  OLD  CITIES. 

Before  discussing  local  problems  a  very  brief  outline  of  the  development  of  the 
city  planning  idea  in  the  old  countries,  condensing  the  history  of  the  movement  in 
two  pictures  and  two  diagrams,  may  be  of  value. 


DIAGRAMS  TYPIFYING: 
THE    OLD    CONCENTRIC    CITY 
hemmed  in  by  fortifications  and  lack  of 


rapid  transit,  solidly  built  up,  congested, 
and  lacking  parks  and  playgrounds  ex- 
cept on  the  outskirts;  these  outer  parks 
being  represented  by  small  circles. 
The  concentric  areas  follow  the  lines  of 
old  fortifications.  (From  the  third  prize 
design  of  the  Greater  Berlin  City  Plan 
Competition,  1910,  Eberstadt-Moehring- 
Petersen). 


THE  MODERN  STARSHAPED  CITY 

located  on  the  waterfront,  opened  up  and 
decentralized  by  rapid  transit;  many 
healthful  small  garden  suburbs  are 
grouped  around  the  business  district. 
Plenty  of  room  for  gardens  and  parks  to 
carry  trees,  air  and  light  into  the  heart 
of  the  city.  The  heaviest  black  lines 
indicate  rapid  transit  lines.  The  steam 
railroads  and  the  harbor  are  not  shown 
in  this  diagram. 


677959 

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THE  CITY  OF  VIENNA  IN  THE  17th  CENTURY 
Typical  example  of  the  old  fortified  city  with  its  growth  concentrated  by  bulwarks 
into  concentric  rings.  In  the  middle  of  the  picture  the  lines  of  previous  fortifica- 
tions still  can  be  recognized.  The  outer  ring  of  fortifications  seen  in  the  picture 
since  1858  has  been  transformed  into  the  famous  Ringstrasse.  This  transformation 
started  the  modern  city  planning  movement  in  Europe.  A  picture  of  the  present 
state  of  the  Ringstrasse  is  given  on  following  page. 


The  cities  of  Europe  were  originally  strongly  fortified  by  surrounding  walls 
and  bulwarks  and  had  therefore  to  congest  their  population  in  exceedingly  small 
areas.  Values  of  land  were  consequently  high  and  the  development  thereon  re- 
sulted in  comparatively  tall,  expensive  structures,  generally  of  such  beautiful  and 
harmonious  design  as  corresponded  with  the  high  artistic  development  of  former 
centuries.  Relieving  somewhat  this  congestion  a  number  of  public  squares  or 
plazas,  needed  for  public  purposes  (mainly  open  markets)  were  placed  here  and 
there.  Around  these  plazas,  public  and  private  buildings  were  grouped,  again  in 
exquisite  architectural  harmony  and  with  a  refinement  of  taste  that  almost  sur- 
passes modern  comprehension.  There  was,  however,  seldom  sufficient  space  for 
public  parks  or  private  gardens  inside  the  fortifications,  but  around  the  narrow 
confines  of  the  city  an  endless  expanse  of  agricultural  or  forest  lands  was  always 
ready  for  the  recreation  of  the  urban  dweller.  Only  after  the  social  structure  be- 
came more  stable  did  houses  invade  this  realm  of  nature  outside  the  fortifications, 
but  the  fortifications  themselves  remained  undisturbed  long  after  the  introduction 
of  gun  powder.  Now,  in  the  abandonment  of  these  fortified  areas  modern  city 
planning  had  its  impetus.  The  old  moats  and  bulwarks  were  in  the  course  of  time 
transformed  into  boulevards,  a  word  that  has  become  identical  with  wide  streets, 
beautifully  planted  with  trees  and  lined  with  fine  buildings.  These  stately  streets 
in  the  old  cities,  following  the  course  of  the  fortifications,  were,  of  course,  circular. 


RINGSTRASSE,  VIENNA 

View  showing  City  Hall  in  the  center,  building  of  the  national  legistature  to  the 

left.     This  street  is  the  result  of  transforming  judiciously  the  old  fortifications 

shown  on  the  preceding  picture. 


surrounding  the  old  heart  of  the  city.  The  best  known  examples  are  the  boule- 
vards of  Paris  and  the  Ringstrasse  of  Vienna.  Only  later  was  the  importance  of 
diagonal  streets  emphasized. 

THE  OPEN  STAR-SHAPED  CITY  OF  MODERN  TIMES. 

The  modern  city,  like  Milwaukee,  has  grown  up  under  very  different  condi- 
tions. Milwaukee  never  required  palisades  against  the  Indians;  no  fortifications 
restricted  the  growth  of  the  city  to  a  limited,  congested  area.  The  modern  city 
could  expand  unfettered  from  its  beginnings  and  this  expansive  tendency  was  soon 
strongly  accentuated  by  modern  means  of  transportation,  i.  e.,  the  railroads,  and 
especially  the  street  car  lines  and  now  the  automobile.  The  map  of  any  well- 
planned  modern  city  clearly  shows  this  expansive  tendency  exemplified  in  thor- 
oughfares radiating  diagonally  from  the  business  center  and  every  new  city  plan 
should  emphasize  and  develop  the  diagonal  or  radial  ways  and  means  of  decentral- 
ization. City  planning  is  both  the  organization  and  directing  of  the  city's  physical 
growth. 

There  are  always  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  city's  growth.  After  the 
disappearance   of   fortifications    and    since  the   introduction   of   modern   means  of 


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PARKS    SURROUNDING    AND    PENETRATING    INTO    THE    CITY     OF 

ESSEN,  GERMANY 

In  the  upper  left  corner  a  theoretical  diagram   showing   the   ideal   distribution   of 

parks  aimed  at  in  laying  out  the  parks  of  Essen. 

Plan  by  Beigeordneter  Schmidt. 


transportation  a  great  number  of  factors  have  unfortunately  developed,  which  tend 
to  check  the  expansion  of  modern  cities  and  sometimes  create  conditions  of  conges- 
tion almost  worse  than  the  congestion  in  the  fortified  cities  of  old.  To  fight  such 
harmful  tendencies  is  one  of  the  main  objects  of  city  planning. 


MILWAUKEE'S  FIRST  CITY  PLAN:  1835. 

This  brings  us  right  to  Milwaukee's  own  problems.  City  planning  is  by  no 
means  anything  like  a  new  thought,  foreign  to  the  development  of  this  city.  City 
planning  was  practiced  in  Milwaukee  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  town,  i.  e., 
from  the  year  1835.  At  that  time  Mr.  Byron  Kilbourne,  a  surveyor  from  the  East, 
came  to  the  site  which  to-day  is  the  City  of  Milwaukee,  and  made  the  first  city 
plan.  The  principles  and  ideas  that  guided  him  in  his  planning  are  laid  down  in 
a  somewhat  condensed  form  in  the  first  map  ever  printed  of  the  "City  of  Milwaukee, 
engraved  by  W.  Haviland,  Cincinnati"  in  the  year  1836.  There  the  explanations 
are  given:    (see  caption  under  the  reproduction  of  the  plan  next  page). 


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THE  FIRST  CITY  PLAN   FOR  MILWAUKEE,  PUBLISHED   1836 

"Streets  running  North  and  South  from  Water  Street  to  Third  Street  in- 
clusive, are  80  feet  wide.  Streets  parallel  with  Third  Street  and  West  of  it  are 
70  feet  wide.  Cross  streets  East  and  West  80  feet  wide.  Alleys  20  feet  wide. 
Lots  50  feet  wide  by  150  feet  long.  Water  lots  40  feet  by  120  feet.  Out  lots 
160  feet  by  210  feet.  Block  No.  24,  appropriated  for  Court  House.  The  four 
spaces  marked  Public,  are  set  apart  for  public  grounds." 


THE  COMPREHENSIVE  CITY  PLANNING 
PROGRAM  OF  1835. 

The  explanation  as  given  on  this  map  of  1836  therefore  contains  a  compre- 
hensive city  planning  program:  it  designates  streets  of  various  widths  as  the 
means  of  land  communication  and  transportation  and  specially  shaped  water  lots 
as  terminals  of  water  transportation;  it  sets  aside  the  public  grounds  as  secured 
in  the  shape  of  four  open  spaces;  it  determines  business  areas,  housing  areas  with 
private  gardens  made  possible  by  urban  lots  of  ample  size  and  much  larger  lots  on 


the  outskirts  (outlets).  The  civic  center  idea  also  finds  its  expression  in  the  setting 
aside  of  suitable  grounds  for  a  Court  House.  What  Mr.  Kilbourne  tried  to  bring 
about  in  the  year  1835  was  exactly  what  city  planning  must  achieve  to-day,  namely. 
the  co-ordination  and  the  harmonizing  of  all  the  various  factors  that  together  deter- 
mine the  make  up  of  a  city  map;  i.  e.,  freight  and  passenger  transportation,  accom- 
modations for  business,  housing  and  recreation  and  the  dignified  expression  of  the 
civic  needs  in  a  civic  center.  The  only  difference  is  that  the  task  of  the  modern 
city  planning  is  much  more  complicated  and  involved  than  it  was  100  years  ago. 

PLANNING  FOR  SPITE. 

In  contrast  to  this  beneficient  kind  of  farsighted  city  planning  there  exists 
another  type  of  city  planning,  of  a  narrow  and  shortsighted  character,  and  it  seems 
that  like  many  other  cities,  Milwaukee  has  had,  since  its  very  beginnings,  seriously 
to  suffer  from  such  misdirection.  It  is  reported  that  the  laying  out  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  city,  i.  e.,  east  of  the  Milwaukee  River,  was  not  done  in  a  spirit  of  con- 
genial co-operation,  but  rather  in  a  spirit  of  spite  and  antagonism.  The  streets  of 
the  east  side  were  laid  out  in  a  way  not  to  parallel  and  not  to  meet  the  streets  of 
the  west  side.  The  curious  breaks  between  V/isconsin  Street  and  Grand  Avenue 
and  other  streets  running  east  and  west  are  one  of  the  results  charged  to  this  extra- 
ordinary spirit  of  ill-will.  But  even  more  serious  from  the  standpoint  of  traffic 
flow  than  these  breaks,  which  at  least  bring  a  certain  element  of  picturesqueness 
into  the  monotony  of  the  modern  city  is  the  fact  that  Broadway,  the  only  wide 
street  (100  feet)  of  the  city,  instead  of  forming  an  important  and  useful  link  be- 
tween east  and  west,  lies  almost  unused  by  traffic  because  it's  direction  is  north 
and  south,  connecting  no  important  points.  The  Green  Bay  and  Port  Washington 
roads  enter  the  city  at  Third  Street  and  not  near  Broadway. 

It  is  furthermore  told  that  the  spirit  of  shortsighted  antagonism  between  the 
west  and  east  sides  not  only  found  its  expression  on  the  city  plan,  but  even  devised 
other  practical  policies  to  express  itself,  among  which  were  the  prohibition  against 
west  side  steamers  to  land  on  the  east  side,  the  use  of  small  cannon  in  the  long  so- 
called  "bridge  war"  and  the  different  ways  of  spelling  the  name  of  the  city.  These 
manifestations  of  sectional  strife  were  not  much  different  in  spirit  from  what 
happened  only  recently  during  the  fight  over  the  location  of  the  Court  House  and 
the  discussions  affecting  the  Civic  Center  plans  referred  to  in  later  paragraphs. 


THE  1835  PROGRAM  FOR  PLANNING  MILWAUKEE  OUGHT 
TO  BE  MODERNIZED  AT  LAST. 

But  there  are  many  other  factors  besides  sectional  antagonism  that  hamper  a 
modern  city's  growth,  and  some  of  these  factors  must  be  mentioned  here.  There 
is  primarily  the  thoughtless  routine  in  which  the  continuous  extension  of  the  city 
follows  an  old  program  laid  down  long  before  the  advent  of  modern  conditions. 
Taking  the  case  of  Milwaukee,  the  program  regarding  width  of  streets,  open 
spaces,  etc.,  etc.,  as  determined  ujion  in  the  year   1835,  was  probably  quite  appro- 


priate  for  the  then  existing  conditions  and  the  state  of  city  planning  science  of  that 
time.  But  conditions  have  changed  considerably.  Modern  city  planning  has 
adapted  itself  to  the  new  conditions,  but  Milwaukee — like  hundreds  of  other  cities 
— simply  adhered  to  the  old  ideas  and  the  old  routine  established  in  1835  accord- 
ing to  the  slogan  "what  was  good  for  grandfather  is  good  enough  for  me." 

GREATER  WIDTH  FOR  STREETS  OF  MAIN  TRAVEL. 

But  this  is  hardly  logical.  The  width  of  Grand  Avenue,  and  that  of  all  the 
other  thoroughfares  of  main  travel,  which  were  but  80  feet,  were  sufficient  for  the 
traffic  of  a  little  trading  post  70  years  ago,  but  they  are  not  wide  enough  to  carry 
modern  traffic,  including  automobiles  and  two  street  car  tracks.  About  60,000 
people  ride  every  day  on  Grand  Avenue  in  street  cars  alone,  and  their  number  must 
increase  rapidly.  The  experience  of  the  city  builders  all  over  the  world  teaches 
that  old  streets  of  main  travel  must  be  widened  when  the  opportunity  arises,  but  a 
city  without  a  definite  city  planning  program  naturally  permits  such  opportunities 
for  widening  to  go  by.  Milwaukee,  for  instance,  permits  just  now  the  erection  of 
the  new  Plankinton  Arcade  Building  right  to  the  old  lot  line  instead  of  forcing  the 
building  back  10  or  20  feet  as  it  has  been  done  along  entire  streets  in  many  Euro- 
pean and  American  cities.  Philadelphia  thus  widened  Chestnut  Street  and  gained 
what  Milwaukee  would  gain  in  widening  Grand  Avenue.  This  blind  acceptance 
of  old  street  widths,  irrespective  of  the  various  new  uses  to  which  streets  are  to  be 
put,  is  especially  unwarranted  in  the  outlying  parts  of  the  city  where  houses  are  just 
beginning  to  be  built  and  where  the  widening  of  main  lines  of  travel  would  be 
comparatively  cheap. 

THE  ROUTINE  OF  THE  CHECKERBOARD. 

Difficult  as  the  efficient  handling  of  traffic  is  made  by  these  antiquated  street 
widths,  the  traffic  problem  is  further  complicated  by  the  direction  in  which  the 
streets  are  laid  out.  In  1835  subdivision  of  a  small  area  in  a  checkerboard  fashion 
resulted  in  no  harm.  As  a  glance  at  the  old  maps  shows  (see  map  of  1845)  this 
small  checkerboard  section  was  served  by  a  splendid  system  of  diagonal  streets 
radiating  in  all  directions  out  into  the  open  country,  making  the  city  the  center  of 
large  neighborhoods,  practically  the  Hub  of  the  Universe.  When  later  on  these 
diagonal  highways  were  permitted  to  be  wiped  from  the  map  by  the  thoughtless 
extension  of  the  checkerboard  streets,  it  simply  shows  that  routine  and  not  fore- 
sight was  ruling  the  growtn  of  the  city.  This  routine  kind  of  platting  is  exceed- 
ingly bad  city  planning.  The  building  of  streets  against  the  natural  flow  of  traffic 
instead  of  with  the  traffic,  largely  succeeds  in  stopping  traffic.  It  prevents  the 
healthy  spreading  of  land  values.  It  congests  the  people  inside  a  limited  area. 
Real  estate  experts  of  Milwaukee  assure  us  that  important  outlying  north  and 
south  avenues  act  as  barriers  against  the  western  movement  of  realty  values. 
Such  important  thoroughfares,  for  instance,  as  Layton  Boulevard  and  Eleventh 
Avenue,  not  following  the  natural  flow  of  traffic  formed  for  some  time  a  western 


boundary  for  home  seekers.  They  could  not  have  done  so  if  the  layout  and  direc- 
tion of  these  avenues,  instead  of  practically  damming  the  traffic,  had  followed  the 
line  of  least  resistance  diagonally  away  from  the  heart  of  the  city,  like,  for  instance. 
National  Avenue,  Fond  du  Lac  or  Forest  Home  Avenues,  in  other  parts  of  the 
city. 

THE  COUNTY  HIGHWAYS,  A  FINE  DIAGONAL  STREET 
SYSTEM  IN   DANGER. 

Very  fortunately  for  Milwaukee  a  great  number  of  these  old  highways  are  still 
preserved  outside  the  city  limits  and  are  likely  to   be  preserved  for  ever,  under 


MAP  OF  GREATER  MILWAUKEE  IN   1858 

Showing  the  fine  system  of  radial  highways  grown  up  naturally,  but  obliterated 

wherever  touched  by  the  progress  of  building  along  checkerboard  lines. 


jViiltttnttktc  Cattttt|r 


the  care  given  them  by  the  County  Highway  Commission.  Quite  a  number  of 
Milwaukee's  citizens  don't  seem  to  realize  by  what  a  splendid  system  of  diagonal 
county  roads  this  city  is  served,  nor  on  the  other  hand,  how  the  efficiency  of  this 
system  is  seriously  impaired  and  its  value  actually  endangered.  While  most  people 
seem  to  be  satisfied  with  the  fact  that  there  has  been  made  on  these  Milwaukee 
County  Highways  one  of  the  most  successful  efforts  in  the  world  to  lay  a  new  type 
of  pavement  suitable  for  automobile  traffic,  few  realize  that :  First — almost  none 
of  these  county  roads  has  an  altogether  satisfactory  approach  to  the  heart  of  the 
city ;  Second — the  right  of  way  of  every  single  one  is  far  too  narrow ;  that  of  the 
Chicago  Road  being  80  feet  and  that  of  the  others  but  66  feet.  The  pavements, 
18  feet  wide  may  be  sufficient  for  the  present,  but  the  rights  of  way  are  too  narrow 
to  assure  the  future  efficiency  of  these  streets.  Such  narrow  roads  cannot  accom- 
modate modern  suburban  traffic  in  that  form,  which  is  most  important  for  a  city  of 
this  size,  i.  e.,  efficient  street  car  lines ;  and  Third :  none  of  the  county  roads,  with 
the  exception  of  one,  carries  street  car  lines. 

Commendable  and  splendid  as  the  achievements  in  paving  on  these  highways 
are,  their  importance  from  the  city  planner's  point  of  view  seems  small  as  compared 
with  the  urgent  necessity  of  securing  for  diagonal  or  radiating  roads,  rights  of  way 


DESIGN   FOR  PARKED  WAYS  PUBLISHED  BY  THE  METROPOLITAN 

PARK  COMMISSION   OF  MILWAUKEE  IN    1909 
Showing  how  business  streets  can  be  attractively  parked  into  boulevards  and  how 
boulevards  can  very  well  carry  rapid  transit  if  wide  enough  and  if  properly  subdi- 
vided.    The  Metropolitan  Commission  wisely    urged    a    comprehensive    system    of 
such  roads  130-150  ft.  wide.     Compare  pictures  on  pages   13  and  33. 


UNPLEASANT  EXAMPLE  OF  STREET  WITHOUT  TREES 
As  found  in  Milwaukee  and  other  cities.     Compare  picture  on  page  33. 


of  from  120  to  150  feet  before  the  land  is  built  upon  and  before  widening  becomes 
prohibitively  expensive  or  otherwise  impossible.  The  widening  of  these  rights  of 
ways  and  their  convenient  connection  with  the  heart  of  the  city  are  among  the 
most  imperative  problems  of  a  new  city  plan  to  be  worked  out,  if  Milwaukee  ever 
hopes  to  be  a  large  metropolis. 

CITY  AND  COUNTY  EQUALLY  INTERESTED  IN  REORGAN- 
IZATION OF  COUNTY  HIGHWAYS. 

How  closely  in  this  highway  development  the  interests  of  the  city  at  large,  and 
especially  that  of  the  real  estate  owners  and  homeseekers  are  connected  with  the 
interests  of  the  outlying  country  may  be  illustrated  by  one  example.  Up  to  a 
short  time  ago  the  farmers  south-west  of  Milwaukee  sent  their  produce  by  rail  to 
Chicago  and  from  there  it  was  shipped  by  boat  to  Milwaukee.  The  main  street 
car  system  of  this  city  for  various  reasons,  partly  legal,  is  behind  modern  develop- 
ment in  not  giving  adequate  freight  service  on  its  lines.  Only  a  few  months  ago 
an  electric  package  freight  service  to  East  Troy  and  Burlington  has  been  installed 
upon  the  instigation  of  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers  Association,  and  to-day 
butter,  eggs,  poultry,  and  a  large  amount  of  fresh  milk  pours  directly  into  the  City 
of  Milwaukee,  which  to  that  extent  ceases  to  be  a  tributary  of  Chicago  and  becomes 
its  own  metropolis.  The  possibility  of  availing  himself  of  such  regular  electric 
package  freight  service  means  more  to  the  country  and  city  dweller  than  even  the 
opportunity  of  riding  in  a  motor  car  over  the  paved  county-highway. 

NECESSITY  OF  RAPID  TRANSIT  DEVELOPMENT. 

Everything  that  can  be  done  to  develop  the  radius  of  rapid  transit  of  a  large 
city  like  Milwaukee  is  essential.  One  may  leave  aside  for  a  moment  the  issues  of 
the  fight  about  the  street  car  fares,  and  just  consider  the  fact,  mentioned  before, 
that  the  plan  of  the  City  and  County  of  Milwaukee  neither  contains  nor  contem- 


plates  at  present  any  street  really  suitable  to  carry  highly  developed  modern  street 
car  traffic,  and  the  other  fact  that  since  the  end  of  igii  no  extensions  of  the  street 
car  system  of  Milwaukee  have  been  built.  There  evidently  is  a  lack  of  co-operation 
between  public  and  private  enterprises  which  surely  must  prove  detrimental  to  the 
progress  of  this  city. 

It  has  become  almost  axiomatic  that  a  city  approaching  in  population  the  half 
million  mark  ought  to  develop  higher  types  of  rapid  transit  than  ordinary  street  car 
traffic  on  street  levels.  Or  stated  otherwise,  in  order  not  to  stop  its  own  develop- 
ment a  city  of  this  size  ought  to  think  of  high  speed  suburban  lines  running  on 
an  elevated  level  inside  the  congested  part  of  the  city  and  making  about  i8  miles 
an  hour  instead  of  g  miles  as  the  Milwaukee  street  cars  do.  Milwaukee  at  present 
has  no  street  wide  enough  to  accommodate  an  elevated  service  advantageously  in 
the  future.  Even  the  present  ordinary  street  car  service  of  Milwaukee  runs  much 
slower  than  would  be  necessary  if  a  thorough  system  of  skip-stops  was  introduced. 
Against  Milwaukee's  nine  miles  speed  the  Cleveland  lines  make  eleven.  In  Oak- 
land, California,  during  the  rush  hours  bstween  6:09  and  7:45  in  the  morning,  and 
between  4:57  and  5:57  in  the  evening  the  street  car  company  runs  ordinary  street 
cars  as  a  special  express  service  from  the  center  of  the  city  to  one  of  the  suburbs 
without  intermediary  stops  by  switching  the  local  cars  off  (at  the  intersections 
with  cross-town  lines)  until  the  express  cars  have  passed:  the  distance  of  14.80 
miles  is  run  in  72  minutes.  Expedients  like  this  ought  to  be  introduced  in  great 
number  in  Milwaukee  if  the  healthful  expansion  of  the  city  is  not  to  be  seriously 
interfered  with  by  the  absence  of  higher  types  of  rapid  transit.  The  co-operation 
of  the  steam  railroads  for  suburban  service  would  be  especially  desirable.  The 
necessity  of  extending  the  areas  available  for  homeseekers  will  be  dealt  with 
further   in  connection  with  the  discussio.i  of  housing. 

RAILROADS  AND  THEIR  YARDS  DETERMINING  THE 
CITY'S  MAP. 

In  the  city  of  olden  times  the  street  system  formed  the  backbone  of  the  city 


AREAS  IN  THE  HEART  OF  MILWAUKEE  CONTROLLED  BY  THE 

RAILROADS 
From  data  furnished  by  the   State   Railroad   Commission.      Courtesy   of   Milwau- 
kee Leader. 


map;  the  importance  of  the  street  layout  in  the  modern  city  as  affording  oppor- 
tunity for  electric  street  car  service  has  been  dwelt  upon.  Quite  as  important  and 
more  difficult  to  accommodate  are  the  needs  of  steam  railroads  and  the  water  ter- 
minals. Especially  is  the  proper  location  of  the  huge  service  yards  considerably 
more  difficult  to  determine  than  the  location  of  streets.  The  amount  of  capital 
invested  and  to  be  invested  in  the  freight  and  passenger  facilities  of  a  large  city  is 
enormous,  and  the  degree  of  efficiency  of  these  systems  in  relation  to  the  local  in- 
dustries depends  on  their  being  located  in  the  right — the  most  stragetic  and  most 
economic — positions.  A  city  almost  always  experiences  difficulties,  if  it  permits 
its  development  in  other  directions  (parks,  streets,  residences)  to  collide  with  those 
areas  and  rights  of  way  that  ought  to  be  rightly  reserved  for  the  needs  of  trans- 
portation in  accordance  with  a  well  studied  and  farsighted  plan. 

In  order  to  show  the  necessity  of  such  a  plan  the  railroad  problem  shall  be 
touched  here  from  two  angles,  i.  e.,  the  elimination  of  grade  crossings  and  the 
problem  of  industrial  areas,  the  latter  being  closely  connected  with  the  harbor 
problem. 

THE  GRADE  CROSSING  PROBLEM. 

According  to  the  prevailing  practice,  a  grade  crossing  is  ordered  to  be  eliminated 
by  the  State  Railroad  Commission,  when  danger  to  pedestrians  and  vehicles  is 
there  recognized.  A  few  years  ago,  for  instance,  the  crossing  of  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  R.  R.  over  Fond  du  Lac  Avenue  was  eliminated  by  depressing 
the  street  in  a  rather  unsightly  manner  under  the  railroad  tracks.  To-day  the  ne- 
cessity of  eliminating  other  grade  crossings  of  the  same  railroad  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  is  recognized  by  the  Railroad  Commission,  involving  a  new  expendi- 
ture of  at  least  half  a  million  dollars  to  the  city,  not  to  mention  the  expenses 
accruing  to  the  railroad.  Now  it  appears  that  great  expense  and  much  difficulty 
could  have  been  avoided  if  the  first  elimination  (at  Fond  du  Lac  Avenue)  required 
a  few  years  ago  had  been  studied  in  connection  with  the  new  work  found  necessary 
at  present.  Instead  of  depressing  the  street  the  railroad  should  have  been  raised. 
Unfortunate  waste  of  this  kind  cannot  be  avoided  if  no  plan  anticipating  coming 
needs  of  street  and  railroad  traffic  is  worked  out  and  perfected  continually.  Not 
only  every  individual  railroad  track  and  its  crossings  has  to  be  subjected  to  such  a 
study  of  coming  development,  but  it  is  the  metropolitan  rail  system  in  its  entirety 
that  must  be  considered.  Even  small  changes  of  grade  in  any  single  locality  may 
seriously  affect  the  entire  railroad  track  situation,  not  only  of  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood, but  of  localities  many  miles  distant,  and  may,  merely  by  lack  of  fore- 
thought, kill  there  the  possibilities  of  otherwise  promising  development.  Quite 
aside  of  these  latent  damages,  the  expense  of  shortsightedness  in  connection  with 
grade  crossing  elimination  in  a  growing  city  is  great,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that,  for  instance  in  Cleveland,  the  total  sum  to  be  expended  by  the  city  and 
the  railroads  in  connection  with  grade  elimination  is  figured,  by  competent  author- 
ity, to  amount  to  over  $24,000,000.  The  engineer  in  charge  of  grade  elimination  of 
one  of  the  leading  railroads  in  Cleveland  emphasized  the  point   that  this  enormous 


expense  could  have  been  avoided  if  the  growth  of  the  city  had  been  properly 
planned  for;  he  said:  "We  are  planning  to  remedy  an  evil,  but  not  to  remove  the 
cause.  The  cost  of  this  work  is  fabulous  We  must  think  well  and  plan  wisely 
that  the  wealth  entrusted  to  our  care  be  not  frittered  away  in  costly  mistakes  or 
careless  management." 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  HIGHLY  DEVELOPED  INDUSTRIAL 
AREAS,  'BELT  LINE  SERVICE." 

The  comprehensive  study  of  the  grade  crossing  situation  will  have  to  take 
special  consideration  of  the  railroad  service  to  be  given  to  the  future  harbor  and  the 
industrial  areas  connected  therewith.  This  service,  that  may  assume  the  shape  of 
a  municipal  belt-line,  as  recommended  to  your  city  council  by  Engineer  Isham 
Randolph  seven  years  ago,  must  also  guarantee  easy  entrance  for  such  new  trunk 
lines,  as  this  city  may  be  able  to  attract,  as  well  as  for  those  three  trunk  lines  which 
at  present  enter  the  city  over  the  trackage  of  the  two  track-owning  companies. 
This  new  belt-line  might  also  be  used  to  advantage  for  shipping  through  freight  of 
the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  R.  R.  around  the  city  instead  of  congesting 
centrally  located  territory. 

The  problem  of  designating  industrial  areas  capable  of  the  most  efficient  modern 
organization  is  closely  connected  with  the  problem  of  the  proper  location  of  the 
great  railroad  yards.  The  railroads,  having  built  the  modern  cities,  naturally  had 
a  tendency  to  consider  these  cities  as  their  own  domain  and  to  monopolize  large 
central  properties  in  the  cities  for  their  own  purposes.  Many  of  the  large  cities  in 
the  world  are  most  seriously  affected  by  congestion  created  in  the  central  area  by 
terminal  railroad  yards.  The  prevailing  systems  of  railroad  taxation  in  many  in- 
stances made  it  easy  for  the  railroads  to  use  land  centrally  located  for  yard  pur- 
poses, even  long  after  the  development  of  the  neighborhood  warranted  a  much 
more  intensive  use  of  the  land.  Only  gradually  a  more  modern  conception  of  city 
and  railroad-planning  forced  the  railroads  to  abandon  large  parts  of  such  central 
areas.  Only  those  parts  of  the  centrally  located  railroad  yards,  that  are  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  serving  of  such  central  areas,  are  to  be  preserved,  while  the  huge 
expanse  of  land  used  for  receiving,  classification,  storage,  etc.,  yards  can  be  found, 
more  advantageously  to  all  concerned,  in  the  outlying  districts  between  or  beyond 
the  suburbs.  The  latter  course  has  been  followed  in  Milwaukee  by  the  Chicago 
and  Northwestern  R.  R.  in  locating  its  large  new  yards  in  Butler,  where  up  to 
125,000  cars  are  handled  per  month,  thus  saving  from  further  congestion  the  inner 
parts  of  the  city.  The  other  of  the  two  Milwaukee  trunk-lines,  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  R.  R.  still  operates  very  extensive  terminal  yards  in  a  centrally 
located  area.  These  yards  are  located  in  the  valley  of  the  Menomonee  River, 
where  they  are  available  for  shipping,  i.  e.,  in  close  proximity  to  its  mouth.  Very 
probably  the  time  has  arrived  when  this  land  should  be  used  more  intensively  in 
connection  with  an  industrial  harbor.  This  land  would  be  specially  useful  for 
factory  sites  to  be  served  by  both  rail  anl  water  approach,  and  to  be  connected  by 
belt  line  service  with  all  other  parts  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  harbor. 

16 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL  HARBOR. 

The  problem  of  designating  industrial  areas  capable  of  the  most  efficient  mod- 
ern organization  is  closely  connected  with  the  development  of  the  water  terminals. 

The  movement  for  better  planning  for  the  physical  features  of  the  city,  as  it  was 
started  about  1890  in  Milwaukee,  began,  like  in  most  American  cities,  with  a  strong 
movement  for  the  creation  of  more  parks.  Originally  almost  the  entire  lake  front 
was  claimed  for  parks,  and  grants  for  the  building  of  such  parks  were  secured, 
part  of  which  grants  were  forfeited  for  lack  of  action  by  the  city.  The  idea  of 
building  an  outer  harbor  came  later  and  the  promotors  of  this  project  had  to  be 
satisfied  with  that  part  of  the  water  front  that  was  left.  Any  modern  study  of  the 
problem  of  how  to  provide  Milwaukee  with  the  most  efficient  harbor  possible  under 
local  conditions  never  could  take  into  consideration  the  entire  water  front  available, 
but  had  to  fit  in  as  best  it  could  into  the  space  left  by  the  park  planners.  It  may 
be  that  the  result  thus  secured  is  entirely  satisfactory;  it  may  be  otherwise. 
Engineer  Isham  Randolph  in  the  year  1909  was  not  asked  to  design  the  best  harbor 
possible  on  Milwaukee  Bay,  but  was  asked  to  design  a  harbor  for  Jones'  Island. 
Mr.  Randolph's  plans  have  since  been  revised  and  improved  upon,  but  the  harbor 
that  will  be  secured,  even  according  to  the  new  plans,  will  be  only  a  commercial 
harbor  and  will  not  create  large  sites  for  industrial  purposes.  One  of  the  author- 
ities responsible  for  the  new  plans,  when  asked  about  the  desirability  of  an  indus- 
trial harbor,  emphasized  this  desirability  to  be  great,  but  declared  that  there  was 
no  space  available  for  creating  such  an  industrial  harbor  in  Milwaukee.  The  fact 
that  many  industrial  establishments,  some  of  which  at  least  would  be  benefitted  by 
water  approach,  are  located  away  from  the  water,  seems  to  prove  that  there  is 
indeed  no  space  on  the  water  front  available  at  inviting  prices.  A  large  number  of 
grain  elevators  have  been  erected  between  Milwaukee  and  West  Milwaukee  and 
are  thus  deprived  of  the  privileges  connected  with  Milwaukee's  location  on  one  of 
the  greatest  waterways  of  the  world.  The  last  report  of  the  Milwaukee  Harbor 
Commission  says : 

"The  steady  increase  in  receipts  of  all  kinds  of  grain  at  Milwaukee,  together 
with  the  marked  revival  of  grain  shipments  by  lake,  has  aroused  serious  con- 
cern on  the  part  of  many  business  men  as  to  the  ability  of  existing  elevators 
to  continue  to  handle  the  grain  business  expeditiously  in  the  course  of  the 
next  year  or  two.  The  fact  is,  every  grain  elevator  and  warehouse  in  the  city 
is  at  present  taxed  to  its  utmost  at  certain  periods  of  the  year,  and  if  there 
should  be  only  a  normal  increase  in  trade  the  time  will  soon  be  at  hand  when 
the  elevator  capacity  of  the  city  will  be  insufficient  to  accommodate  the  grain 
which  finds  its  way  to  this  point  in  increasing  volume  yearly.  Such  a  situa- 
tion, if  allowed  to  develop,  would  prove  detrimental  to  the  commercial  growth 
of  the  city.  Milwaukee  needs  another  1,000,000  bushel  elevator  at  the  present 
time." 

The  report  also  states: 

"Since  1880  shipments  of  grain  from  upper  lake  ports  by  way  of  the  great 
lakes  and  Erie  Canal  have  declined  85*^; ." 

The  great  impetus  given  to  water  transportation  in  the  United  States  ought 


to  reconquer  for  Milwaukee  the  prominence  as  a  grain  market  which  it  enjoyed  in 
the  early  days. 

What  is  true  about  grain  is  true  in  every  other  line  of  commercial  and  especially 
industrial  activity.  Only  by  securing  the  most  modern  equipment  for  handling 
Milwaukee's  industries  can  she  successfully  compete  in  the  markets  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  world.  Extensive  cheap  factory  sites  well  served  by  rail  and 
water  approach  are  a  necessary  part  of  such  modern  equipment. 

The  creation  of  highly  developed  factory  districts  attracting  industries  has  also 
proved  to  be  the  most  efficient  protection  for  the  residential  districts  against  the 
inroads  made  by  factories  locating  in  unexpected  and  undesirable  places  and  seri- 
ously affecting  the  character  and  values  of  wide  residential  neighborhoods.  The 
new  automobile  factory,  close  by  Milwaukee's  most  expensive  residential  district  is 
one  of  the  most  curious  examples  of  planless  investment  on  the  part  of  the  home 
owners  as  well  as  on  the  part  of  the  factory  builders.  A  similar  example  is  given 
in  the  next  paragraph  on  the  park  system  and  many  others  could  be  quoted. 

THE  PARK  SYSTEM. 

The  conflict  between  the  park  planners  and  the  harbor  planners  that  existed  for 
some  time  in  Milwaukee  and  the  present  solution  of  which  may  in  the  long  run 
peihaps  prove  to  be  detrimental  to  the  future  industrial  development  of  the  com- 
munity could  have  been  avoided  by  comprehensively  planning  for  both  parks  and 
harbor.  There  is  plenty  of  land  available  in  and  around  Milwaukee  to  satisfy  all 
legitimate  desires  in  both  directions.  The  high  bluffs  along  the  water  front  will 
never  be  desirable  for  industrial  sites  and  furnish  ideal  park  sites.  How  much  of 
the  land  to  be  filled  in,  in  front  of  these  bluffs,  would  be  desirable  for  harbor  pur- 
poses only  special  investigation  could  show.  Even  men  who  take  a  special  interest 
in  Milwaukee's  park  development  express  their  readiness  to  sacrifice,  if  need  should 
arise,  those  parts  of  the  newly  filled-in  park  lands  that  may  prove  essential  for  the 
development  of  the  harbor.  Such  sacrifices  may  come  too  late  if  the  building  of 
the  new  harbor,  for  instance,  on  Jones'  Island,  is  not  planned  in  such  a  way  to  take 
into  consideration  later  possible  extensions  along  the  lake  front.  There  are  two 
cities  in  the  United  States,  the  situation  of  which,  regarding  harbor  plans,  is  some- 
what similar  to  the  Milwaukee  situation.  These  cities  are  Chicago,  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  East  Bay  Cities,  Oakland  and  Berkeley,  California  on 
the  other.  Colonel  Thos.  H.  Rees,  of  the  United  States  Corps  of 
Engineers,  who  planned  the  new  harbor  for  the  East  Bay  Cities,  approved 
a  plan  designed  by  the  author  of  this  report  for  a  large  outer  park  along  the  water 
front,  for  Oakland  and  Berkeley,  but  saw  himself  obliged  to  criticise  the  well 
known  plans  for  the  Lagoon  Parks  along  Chicago's  water  front.  In  a  letter  ex- 
plaining his  design  for  the  new  East  Bay  harbor.  Colonel  Rees  made  the  following 
statement  approving  of  the  outer  park  system : 

"While  not  strictly  within  my  province,  a  suggestion  of  Dr.  Werner  Hege- 
mann  appears  to  be  pertinent  and  valuable.  The  outer  dyke  can  be  so  shaped 
and  treated  as  to  make  one  of  the  most  beautiful  park  systems  in  the  world. 


PLAN  OF  OUTER  HARBOR  FOR  OAKLAND,  BERKELEY,  RICHMOND, 
CALIFORNIA,  as  designed  by  Col.  T.  H.  Rees,  U.  S.  Corps  of  Engineers,  with 
projected  Island  Park  in  front  of  harbor,  as  approved  by  the  designer  of  the  har- 
bor plan. 


with  driveways,  walks,  trees,  shrubbery,  flowers,  boating  lagoons,  bathing 
beaches,  yacht  harbors,  pavilions,  refectories,  etc.,  extending  from  Goat  Island 
to  Brooks'  Island  and  reached  by  ferries  or  tunnel. 

There  has  been  planned  for  the  City  of  Chicago  by  Burnham  and  Com- 
pany a  system  of  such  islands  and  lagoons  extending  for  20  miles  along  the 
water  front,  for  park  purposes  only  without  any  reference  to  the  creation  of  a 
harbor.  For  the  East  Bay  Cities,  the  basis  for  such  a  park  system  is  provided 
for  as  an  incident  to  harbor  development." 

The  situation  of  Milwaukee  regarding  park  and  harbor  development  is  not  the 
same  as  in  Chicago  or  Oakland,  but  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  situation  should 
lead  to  a  solution  satisfactory  to  both  park  and  harbor  interests. 

Milwaukee  is  at  present  suffering  from  a  need  of  parks.  The  city  owns  about 
nine  hundred  acres,  to  which  three  hundred  acres  com.prised  in  the  County  park 
system  may  be  added,  forming  a  total  of  twelve  hundred  acres.  If  the  metro- 
politan park  district  of  greater  Boston,  housing  a  population  of  about  a  million  and 
a  half  and  providing  them  with  about  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  parks  be  taken  as 
a  standard  of  measurement,  then  the  City  and  County  of  Milwaukee  ought  to  con- 
trol something  like  five  or  six  thousand  acres  of  parks  amply  provided  with  golf 
links,  foot  ball  and  base  ball  grounds,  bridle  paths,  tennis  courts,  children's  play 
grounds,  etc.  And  if  the  young  Middle  V/est  should  feel  like  claiming  standards 
higher  than  those  of  the  old  cities  of  the  East,  more  will  be  required.  In  Milwau- 
kee the  park  movement  is  the  most  prom.inent  feature  of  comprehensive  city  plan- 
ning, which,  together  with  the  Civic  Center  idea,  has  so  far  been  most  strongly 
emphasized  and  therefore  need  not  to  be  gone  into  more  in  detail  in  this  short 
report.     In  addition  to  the  fine,  though  not   extensive  parks   of  the   city,  the   work 


done  in  the  County,  on  a  still  smaller  scale  it  is  true,  is  especially  commendable. 
In  the  County  lies  the  opportunity  to  acquire  at  low  prices  extensive  reservations 
and  preserve  them  in  a  wild  wood  character.  Here  some  reserves  of  from  one 
thousand  or  two  thousand  acres  should  be  secured.  The  beautiful  bluffs  on  the 
water  front  far  out  in  the  county  are  probably  secure  for  many  decades  against 
industrial  interferences ;  at  least  if  well  organized  and  attractive  industrial  districts 
are  made  possible  in  connection  with  the  harbor.  This  at  present  does  not  seem  to 
be  the  case,  judging  from  the  fact  that  factories,  like  the  Milwaukee  Vinegar 
Company,  locate  on  the  lake  front,  high  over  the  water,  thus  not  getting  nor  ap- 
parently wanting  water  approach,  and  about  a  mile  away  from  the  main  railroad 
line.  This  land  could  be  used  to  better  advantage  as  parks  surrounded  by 
residences. 

Park  locations  of  a  kind  similar  to  the  lake  front  present  themselves  along  the 
rivers,  especially  on  the  upper  Milwaukee  River,  and  must  be  secured  before  plan- 
less or  misdirected  investments  destroy  their  beauty. 

In  connection  with  the  large  parks  a  system  of  fine  drives  ought  to  be  developed. 
Some  fine  boulevards  already  exist.  Grand  Avenue  and  the  heart  of  city,  for  in- 
stance, could  be  connected  with  Washington  Park  by  a  chain  of  boulevards  if  the 
missing  link  between  Grand  Avenue  and  Highland  Boulevard  could  be  supplied. 

Independent  of  the  larger  parks  or  in  connection  with  them,  smaller  neighbor- 
hood parks  in  walking  distance  of  every  home  must  be  secured,  and  they  ought  to 
be  well  provided  with  playgrounds,  public  baths,  assembly  rooms,  library,  etc.,  so 
as  to  form  real  social  centers  of  their  district. 

MILWAUKEE'S  HOUSING  PROBLEMS. 

One  of  the  most  essential  requirements  of  the  industrial  districts  referred  to  in 
previous  paragraphs  is  their  proximity  to  areas  well  developed  for  the  housing  of 
the  working  men.  Milwaukee  is  one  of  the  many  cities  in  America  that  claim 
prominence  as  cities  of  homes.  On  the  other  hand,  frequent  complaints  are  heard 
in  Milwaukee  that  this  city  is  one  of  the  most  congested  of  its  size.  The  fact  is 
that  Milwaukee  has  in  various  locations  slum  conditions  than  which  few  can  be 
found  to  be  worse,  even  in  the  larger  cities.  Very  bad  conditions,  for  instance, 
can  be  found  in  what  is  called  Nigger  Alley  close  to  Third  and  Wells  Street ;  also 
in  Owens  Court  immediately  adjoining  the  tracks  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Depot,  where  about  two  hundred  families  are  huddled  together  in  a  miserable 
cluster  of  half  dilapidated  buildings,  on  Van  Buren  Street,  between  Huron  and 
Detroit,  and  in  the  alley  between  Milwaukee  and  Jefferson,  Huron  and  Michigan 
Streets.  Examples  like  the  ones  mentioned  deserve  to  be  visited  by  every  citizen 
proud  of  his  city.  "The  submerged  tenth"  is  quite  as  miserable  here  as  in  New 
York.  It  is  especially  the  interior  of  these  buildings,  their  unsanitary  conditions 
and  the  prevailing  state  of  crowding  that  make  them  equal  to  the  worst  slums  of 
much  larger  cities.  In  a  number  of  instances  tenements  are  built  under  the  present 
street  level.  These,  however,  are  not  considered  to  be  basement  dwellings  in  spite 
of  the  ten  steps  leading  down  to  them.  The  problem  of  basement  dwellings  is 
another  serious  subject  and   is  more   fully   discussed   in   a  report  of  the   Commis- 


TYPICAL  EXAMPLE  FOR  HAPHAZARD  GROWTH  IN  MILWAUKEE- 
WEST  ALLIS 
This  view  contains  many  elements  of  comprehensive  city  growth;  a  factory  in  the 
background,  houses  of  the  factory  employees  in  the  middle,  a  tower  of  a  church  to 
the  right.  In  the  foreground  some  unbuilt-upon  area  can  be  used  as  a  playground 
by  children,  but  will  disappear  when  the  need  for  it  increases.  A  city  plan  is 
necessary  to  bring  these  various  elements  of  city  growth  into  proper  relation. 

sioner  of  Labor  Statistics  of  igii  12,  where  also  a  great  number  of  photographs 
is  given  showing  scandalous  conditions.  This  report  was  preceded  by  an  investi- 
gation in  1906,  which,  showing  very  bad  tenement  house  conditions,  led  towards  the 
enactment  of  a  tenement  house  law  in  1907.  This  law  was  declared  unconstitutional 
by  the  Supreme  Court  and  in  1909  a  new  law  was  passed.  The  report  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  Statistics  of  191 1  12,  however,  complained  that  "the  tenement 
house  law  of  Wisconsin  is  not  enforced  in  Milwaukee,"  "and  conditions  continued 
to  grow  worse."  This  long  period  of  lawlessness  in  building  and  conducting  tene- 
ment houses,  of  course,  must  have  produced  bad  conditions  and  habits  which  it  will 
be  hard  to  wipe  out.  These  bad  conditions  prevail  not  only  in  those  structures, 
which  according  to  the  law,  fall  under  the  definition  of  tenement  house  and  there- 
fore stand  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Department  of  Health,  but  conditions 
as  bad  or  worse  are  found  in  many  two  family  houses  with  extremely  bad  sanitary 
arrangements,  often  in  a  state  of  dilapidation  dangerous  to  life  and  health.  They 
are  also  too  frequently  overcrowded  with  children  and  boarders.  The  active  De- 
partment of  Health  has  recently  started  a  house  to  house  survey  to  discover  the 
conditions  as  existing  in  some  of  the  most  congested  neighborhoods.  The  results 
of  the  survey  are  not  published  yet. 

HOW  CITY  PLANNING  CAN  PREVENT  HOUSING 
PROBLEMS. 

However  important  the  enforcement  of  the  tenement  house  law  and  the  cleaning 
up  of  these  slum  areas  may  be,  the  real  cure  of  the  evil  can  be  found  only  in  pre- 
vention, i.  e.,  providing  better  homes  at  very  reasonable  prices.     This  must  be  done 


LOT-CROWDING   INVITED   BY   THE  TOO   NARROW  AND   TOO   DEEP 

LOTS  OF  MILWAUKEE. 

These  deep  flats  receive  very  little  light    from    the    sides.     The    eleven    windows 

shown  on  the  left  side  are  going  to  be  blanketed. 


in  the  cheaper  out-lying  areas,  easily  reached  by  good  and  cheap  suburban  trans- 
portation facilities  and  by  the  proper  subdivision  of  the  land.  Herein  lies  one  of 
the  greatest  responsibilities  connected  with  city  building.  The  selection  of  the  right 
type  of  lot  of  proper  width  and  depth,  the  right  type  of  street  in  regard  to  width, 
to  pavement,  and  to  planting,  and  the  right  type  of  house  to  be  built  along  these 
streets  is  essential,  and  without  proper  ^.tudy  and  selection  undesirable  and  even 
slum  conditions  will  come  sooner  or  later.  As  pointed  out  in  a  previous  paragraph, 
the  lots  in  the  original  city  plan  for  Milwaukee  were  laid  out  fifty  feet  wide  by  150 
feet  deep.  These  lots  of  1835  are  not  suitable  for  the  requirements  of  a  modern 
industrial  worker  under  the  economic  pressure  of  a  modern  industrial 
city.  To  bring  these  lots  at  all  within  the  price  possible  to  the  wage- 
earner  they  had  to  be  subdivided,  and  the  most  awkward  shape  of  25  by  150  feet 
resulted.  No  proper  use  can  be  made  of  a  lot  of  these  dimensions.  It  therefore 
had  to  be  used  improperly,  and,  instead  of  one  house,  two  or  three  were  built  on 
these  lots  one  behind  the  other,  creating  what  is  called  "lot  crowding."  In  other 
cases  long,  deep  flats  were  built  running  far  back  on  the  lot.  In  a  few  examples  n 
more  reasonable  procedure  was  adopted  and  the  entire  block  was  subdivided  by 
additional  streets,  as  for  instance.  Maiden  Lane,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth, 
from  Lee  to  Center  Streets.  In  this  latter  case  a  subsidiary  street  of  about  30 
feet  width  is  built  giving  a  roadway  of  about  20  feet  and  two  sidewalks  of  about 


BACK  OF  CHEAPEST  TYPE  OF  WORKINGMEN'S  HOUSES  IN  ESSEN— 

MARGARETENHOEHE,    GERMANY 

Showing  to  the  left  the  gardens  and  rear  entrances  to  three  homes  of  the  smallest 

type  built  in  a  row.     Through  the  open  doors  one  can  see  the  windows  on  the  front 

side  of  the  airy  houses.     The  space  saved   between   the   houses  is   added  to  the 

garden.     Compare  the  unsatisfactory  arrangement  shown  on  page  22. 


5  feet  each.  Lots  are  about  75  feet  deep  and  40  feet  wide  and  are  improved  with 
houses  costing  from  about  $2,400  to  $3,000  and  containing  four  rooms  and  bath  and 
sometimes  a  kitchen  in  the  basement.  Better  conditions  like  this,  providing  streets 
and  lots  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  case,  should  not  be  left  to  accidental  intel- 
ligence, but  should  be  secured  when  the  planning  for  the  subdivision  of  the  neigh- 
borhood is  done.  The  great  problem  in  connection  with  housing  arises  in  the 
procuring  of  the  very  cheapest  type  of  dwellings.  There  are  now  thousands  of 
families,  and  there  will  be  very  many  more,  whose  work  the  community  needs,  but 
for  which  it  pays  in  a  manner  not  permitting  these  families  to  allow  more  than  ten 
dollars  a  month  for  their  shelter.  The  question  immediately  arises,  what  can  these 
families  get  for  ten  dollars  a  month?  It  is  a  widely  current  but  mistaken  notion 
that  families  of  this  type  can  select  the  type  of  dwelling  they  want.  On  the  con- 
trary, these  families,  often  coming  in  as  quickly  as  the  growth  of  industries 
demands,  simply  have  to  take  what  they  can  get,  and  what  they  can  get  is  largely, 
if  not  wholly,  determined  by  the  prevailing  methods  of  buildings  and  developing 
the  city.  There  are  two  alternatives ;  the  one  leads  to  overcrowding  in  unhealthy 
tenements:   the  ideal,  in  the  other  direction,  is  healthy  homes,  ample  room,  privacy. 


23 


light,  air,  iiome-gardens  and  public  parks  and  playgrounds  within  walking  distance, 
or  at  least  made  accessible  by  rapid  transportation  at  low  cost. 

It  is  a  matter  of  comparatively  simple  calculation  to  find  out  how  much  a  lot  for 
a  small  home  in  Milwaukee  should  cost,  if  a  family  paying  but  $io  a  month  for 
rent  shall  be  able  to  occupy  it  without  taking  in  boarders  or  crowding  additional 
houses  in  the  rear.  Much  active  and  commendable  enterprise  is  to  be  found  in  Mil- 
waukee in  subdividing  lots  and  building  and  marketing  homes  of  a  cheap  type. 
One  concern  alone  has  covered  70  acres  with  about  400  homes,  costing  from  $1,800 
to  $4,000  each.  But  even  this  cheap  type  of  a  home  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
family  that  can  afford  no  more  than  $10  net  per  month.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary 
to  bring  about  considerable  reduction  in  cost,  not  only  in  the  type  of  structure,  but 
ah'o  in  the  size  and  type  of  the  lot  and  the  type  of  the  street  serving  the  lots.  One 
great  saving  could  be  made  if  this  type  of  real  estate  enterprise  could  by  virture  of 
suburban  transportation  enter  the  field  at  a  time  when  the  land  has  still  an  agri- 
cultural value.  There  are  wide  areas  of  very  desirable  land  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  Milwaukee,  selling  between  $300  and  $400  an  acre.  But  this  is 
not  the  price  at  which  the  subdivider  now  acquires  this  land.  Before  the  subdi- 
vider  starts  his  work,  the  land  acquires  a  speculative  value  in  an  intermediary  state 
of  affairs,  the  only  practical  outcome  of  which  is  to  raise  the  price  from  $1,000  to 
$2,000  or  more  an  acre.  This  means  an  increase  over  the  agricultural  value  from 
200  to  600' ,  ,  which  acts  as  a  direct  tax  on  the  working  man,  or  rather  on  industry. 
Under  the  conditions  of  the  American  labor  market,  the  working  man  can  largely 
shift  this  taxation  of  his  shelter  upon  the  manufacturer,  and  to  that  extent  it  means 
less  efficiency  in  home  industries;  a  very  serious  matter,  a  very  real  and  direct 
handicap  in  the  development  and  the  prosperity  of  Greater  Milwaukee. 

Another  saving  can  be  made  in  selecting  more  appropriate  types  of  lots.  The 
congested  cities  of  Europe,  with  their  high  land  values,  found  it  necessary  in  order 
to  provide  for  homes  of  the  most  modest  kind  for  the  working  man,  to  abandon 
the  idea  of  the  home  surrounded  by  a  garden  and  adopt  the  plan  of  homes  built  in 
rows  with  a  little  garden  in  front  and  a  larger  garden  in  the  rear.  The  same  pro- 
cedure has  been  adopted  in  the  "cities  of  homes"  in  Eastern  America,  like  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore.  It  almost  seems  as  if  the  middle  west,  in  spite  of  the  more 
favorable  natural  and  historic  conditions,  will  have  to  resort  to  the  same  expedient. 
The  cheapest  kind  of  a  lot  sold  at  present  in  Milwaukee  seldom  costs  less  than  $300. 
This  lot  is  unimproved,  has  no  water,  no  sewer,  and  the  street  in  front  of  it  is 
neither  paved  nor  planted.  In  some  cases,  even  the  future  street  level  is  not  yet 
established,  and  its  later  establishment  brings  unpleasant  surprises  and  much  ex- 
pense to  the  lot  owner.  Under  these  conditions  a  really  improved  lot  within  walk- 
ing distance  of  a  factory  costs  about  $600  or  more.  This  is  far  more  than  a  man 
paying  $10  rent  per  month  can  afford.  Furthermore,  this  $600  lot  is  considerably 
larger  than  is  needed.  30x120  ft.  is  almost  twice  the  size  of  what  is  absolutely 
indispensable.  The  type  of  house  generally  erected  on  these  lots  leaves  about  8  ft. 
open  space  between  the  houses.  These  8  ft.  spaces  are  little  better  than  waste, 
being  insufficient  to  give  much  light  to  the  windows  opening  on  it.  They  are  in- 
sufficient for  gardening,  and  form  mainly  an  undesirable  gap  in  which  the  snow 

24 


and  ice,  accumulating  during  the  long  winter  months,  cannot  melt  away.  If  the 
houses  were  pulled  together  into  rows,  adapting  the  plan  of  the  house  to  this  type  of 
building,  a  saving  in  the  width  of  the  lot  could  be  made  to  advantage.  Other  sav- 
ings, as  stated  before,  can  be  made  in  the  depth  of  the  lots  and  in  the  width  and 
pavement  of  the  street. 

Another  important  feature  in  building  residential  districts  for  working  men 
lies  in  the  proper  grouping  of  the  houses  in  relation  not  only  to  the  factories  but 
also  around  some  central  feature  of  a  more  social  character,  like  neighborhood  cen- 
ters, club-houses,  schools  and  churches.  Besides  proximity  to  the  factories,  parks 
between  the  factories  and  the  housing  districts  are  desirable  so  as  to  screen  off  the 
undesirable  features  of  industry  and  to  make  the  walk  from  and  to  the  factory 
pleasant.  The  placing  of  the  various  public  buildings  of  a  social  character  just 
mentioned  should  not  be  done  in  a  haphazard  manner  somewhere  on  a  corner  or 
in  line  with  private  homes.  By  disappearing  in  the  monotony  of  the  checkerboard 
they  lose  all  effectiveness,  but  by  central  location  their  quality  will  be  emphasized 
and  advertised,  giving  strong  impetus  to  the  development  of  a  neighborhood  spirit, 
radiating  from  these  subsidiary  centers.  By  properly  grouping  well-designed, 
cheap  homes  around  these  subsidiary  centers,  artistic  effects  of  highest  beauty  have 
been  achieved  for  working  men's  districts,  putting  to  shame  the  often  inharmoni- 
ously  developed  residences  of  the  wealthy. 

RESIDENTIAL  DISTRICTS  AND  THEIR  HARMONY. 

The  homes  of  the  well  to  do  afford,  or  ought  to  afford,  more  opportunities  for 
the  developm.ent  of  artistic  home  ideals  and  to  produce  neighborhoods  of  real  har- 
mony and  beauty.  The  ideals  regarding  the  appearance  of  a  comfortable  home 
have  changed  considerably  in  the  last  twenty  years.  After  the  decades  between 
1865  and  1905  had  gone  through  one  of  the  most  deplorable  breakdowns  of  good 
architectural  manners,  there  has  been  a  general  raising  of  standards  in  good  taste 
as  applied  to  home  architecture  both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country.  Many  of  the 
old  residential  districts  of  the  well-to-do  in  most  American  cities,  and  also  in  Mil- 
waukee, are  built  up  with  monuments  of  the  artistic  breakdown  of  former  decades. 
This  lack  of  taste,  as  expressed  in  the  architecture  of  those  homes,  finds  equally 
strong  expression  in  a  complete  absence  of  imagination,  taste  or  even  common  sense 
in  most  features  regarding  the  city  plan  of  these  neighborhoods,  as,  for  instance, 
character,  width,  pavement,  planting  and  direction  of  streets.  Nothing  but  the 
most  dreary  checkerboard,  without  any  attempt  towards  grouping  or  harmonizing 
the  residences  or  the  numerous  little  churches  with  their  variously  fashioned  archi- 
tectural styles,  is  the  predominant  note.  Often  even  the  most  primitive  care  of  pro- 
tecting the  wealthiest  neighborhoods  against  the  inroads  of  factories  or  apartment 
houses,  has  not  been  taken.  Huge  apartment  houses,  much  higher  than  would  be 
permitted  in  any  of  the  teeming  capitals  of  continental  Europe,  are  built  covering 
the  entire  lot  and  shamelessly  exposing  naked  party  walls  in  expectation  of  the 
neighbor  committing  a  similar  crime  and  ready  to  have  its  own  windows  blanketed. 
The  increasing  erection  of  apartment  houses  in  the  better  residential  districts  is 

25 


itffea'w^  ^•'7^7'^W(^'Ni(i '  jKrTt^t^ 


IJ  1  lU  U    'I 


~W^( 


.iS5iJ£^aSi::i:i:ri2=Liii5 


RESIDENTIAL  ARCHITECTURE  GROUPED  HARMONIOUSLY 
on  lots  too  narrow  to  permit  sufficient  space  between  houses.     The  space  saved  by 
having  the  party  walls  touch  each  other  is  added  to  the  gardens  behind  the  houses. 
Compare  the  narrow  gaps  between  the  otherwise   well   designed   residences   at   the 
right  side  of  upper  picture  on  adjoining  page.      (From  a  sketch  by  L.  Schmieder.) 

claimed  to  be  due  in  part  to  the  high  taxation  put  on  the  land  in  these  districts. 
Residential  areas  along  the  lake  front  are  said  to  be  taxed  on  $400  a  front  foot 
valuation,  which  makes  a  kind  of  "improvement"  that  is  more  remunerative  than  a 
single  home,  almost  imperative. 

It  is  doubtful  whether,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  City  Treasury,  it  is  desir- 
able to  put  this  high  taxation  on  residential  property,  considering  the  fact  that  all 
the  people  who  live  in  the  upper  stories  of  an  apartment  house  and  help  paying  its 
taxes,  do  not  pay  taxes  for  homes  in  other  districts  of  the  city.  In  other  words, 
taxation  which  is  so  high  that  it  enforces  the  building  of  apartment  houses,  con- 
centrates land  values  into  very  limited  areas,  very  much  as  was  the  case  in  the  old 


RESIDENCES    GROUPED    HARMONIOUSLY 

The  lots  are  wide  enough  to  permit  sufficient  space  between  houses.     Compare  the 

harmony   of  the   architectural   lines   with  the   mixture   of   styles   preferred   by   the 

owners  of  the  buildings  in  the  next  picture.     (From  a  sketch  by  F.  Lahrs.) 


26 


GOOD    RESIDENTIAL   ARCHITECTURE  INTERFERED  WITH  BY  LACK 

OF  HARMONY.  TOO  NARROW  LOTS,  THE  INVASION  OF  THE 

APARTMENT    HOUSE   AND   LACK    OF    SHADE   TREES 

congested  cities,  the  expansion  of  which  was  interfered  with  by  fortifications. 
Protection  against  apartment  houses  would  distribute  and  stabilise  values.  From 
an  artistic  point  of  view,  it  would  be  deplorable  if  the  lake  front  should  be  built  up 


BACK  OF  A  MILWAUKEE  APARTMENT  HOUSE 
This  is  a  highgrade  apartment  house.  This  is  typical  of  the  way  even  expensive 
and  otherwise  luxuriously  developed  appartment  houses  set  a  very  low  standard  by 
building  close  to  the  lot  line.  Hundreds  of  windows  will  be  blanketed  if  the  neigh- 
boring property  is  built  up  in  the  same  way.  Developments  like  this  have  been 
aptly   called   "SLUMS    OF   THE   WEALTHY."     Compare  interior  court,  p.  28. 


27 


INTERIOR  COURT  OF  AN  APARTMENT  HOUSE  IN  BERLIN,  GERMANY 
This  garden-like  development  permanently  ensures  air,  light  and  pleasant  views 
even  to  those  windows  of  the  apartment  house  which  do  not  face  the  street.  Com- 
pare the  crowded  development  on  the  preceding  page.  (From  a  sketch  by  W. 
Luserke.) 


with  a  wall  of  hugh  apartment  buildings  One  needs  not  to  speak  about  the  de- 
structive effects  wrought  on  family  and  child  life  in  the  upper  stories  of  these 
apartments,  where  the  concentration  of  living  space  and  the  disappearing  garden 
and  the  disappearing  bed  is  often  identical  with  the  disappearing  of  the  child. 

Wherever  the  difficulty  of  securing  good  help  for  household  work  enforces 
closer  living,  the  apartment  should  be  developed  not  on  a  vertical  but  on  a  hori- 
zontal plane.  Very  charming  groups  of  individual  homes  have  in  other  cities  been 
closely  grouped  in  rows,  or  what  is  called  terraces,  around  a  central  garden,  and 
have  been  provided  with  central  heating  and  general  management — thereby  pro- 
viding all  the  advantages  of  an  apartment  house  on  the  ground  floor,  combined 
with  the  privacy  and  charm  of  individual  homes. 

Wherever  people  are  well  enough  off  to  afford  individual  homes  surrounded 
with  gardens,  the  unfortunate  hodge-podge  mixture  of  styles,  so  common  in  the 
fancy-stricken  lanes  of  wealthy  suburbs,  will,  it  is  hoped,  gradually  give  way  to 
the  desire  for  harmony,  without  which  architectural  qualities  cannot  be  achieved. 
At  present  there  is  so  little  co-operation  between  the  builders  of  wealthier  homes, 
that  it  is  almost  an  unfair  demand  made  on  an  architect,  with  artistic  feeling,  to 
build  an  individual   home,  because  he  may  be  almost  sure  that  his  efforts  will  be 


SlUDY  FORTOL  5UBDIVr5ION  onHE  PAB5T  FA^M.\\.:\IMAT05A\X15. 

WrUNER^  HtGEMAJ>4N       CITY    PLANNING     CONSULTANT 


SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  SUBDIVISION  OF  A  HILLY  SUBURBAN  AREA 
OF  MILWAUKEE  FOR  MEDIUM  AND  HIGH  CLASS  RESIDENCES 

There  are  differences  in  level  of  over  loo  feet.  Instead  of  monotonous  checkerboard 
streets  with  their  high  expense  for  grading,  the  plan  aims:  to  avoid  cutting  and 
filling,  to  bring  the  streets  at  easy  grades  up  or  around  the  hills,  to  make  the  hills 
points  of  vantage  crowned  by  highly  desirable  building  sites,  to  organize  the  whole 
area  as  a  secluded  residential  park  and  by  a  visual  relation  to  bring  it  in  close 
connection  with  Washington  Park.  The  existing  trees  are  made  part  of  the  plan. 
The  highest  hills  of  the  subdivision  close  the  vista  of  Washington  Boulevard,  which 
connects  the  subdivision  in  a  straight  line  with  Washington  Park.  The  streets 
passing  in  front  of  the  hills  will  appear  as  terraces. 
(Reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Richter,  Dick  and  Reutemann,   Milwaukee.) 

29 


PUBLIC  SQUARE  IN  GARDEN-SUBURB  BERLIN-FROHNAU. 
GERMANY 
Around  this  garden  square  are  grouped :  railroad  station,  water  tower,  restaurant, 
apartment-hotel  and  department  store.  The  various  necessary  activities  are  thus 
pleasantly  expressed  and  the  rest  of  the  residential  suburb  is  protected  against  un- 
desirable encroachments.  In  Milwaukee  good  residential  districts  have  been  ruined 
by  the  inroad  of  stores,  apartment  houses  and  factories.  Photo  by  courtesy  of 
R.  Philipp,  Architect,  Milwaukee. 

killed  by  some  neighboring  house  being  built  out  of  harmony  and  in  disregard  of 
surrounding  efforts.  In  order  to  secure  architectural  qualities  in  a  residential 
neighborhood,  some  understanding  about  common  aims,  style,  material,  color  and 
height  must  be  developed,  and  this  understanding  must  go  hand  in  hand  with  the 
plan  for  the  streets,  planting,  set-back  of  houses  and  relation  to  public  buildings, 
and  the  abandonment  of  the  dreary  monotony  of  the  checkerboard.  Well  propor- 
tioned vistas,  open  spaces,  generous  and  well  considered  planting,  curved  roads, 
when  made  advisable  by  the  topography  of  the  land,  all  help  to  enhance  the 
beauty  of  the  residential  districts. 

MILWAUKEE  RIVER. 

It  was  harmony  in  architectural  style  and  material  that  gave  the  ever  present 
charm  to  the  cities  of  previous  centuries.  Only  since  the  second  part  of  the  igth 
Century,  has  the  wild  carnival  of  misapplied  styles  begun  to  deface  the  cities  of 
Europe  and  America.  A  lack  of  quality  and  architectural  harmony  is  especially 
objectionable  when  it  appears  along  a  wide  avenue  and  unhidden  by  trees  or  when 


30 


VIEW  OF  MILWAUKEE  RIVER  AND  GRAND  AVENUE  BRIDGE 
showing  some  fine  and  many  expensive  buildings  representing  investments  much 
greater  than  made  along  the  Canal  Grande  of  Venice,  but  without  harmony  and 
discretion.  Note  the  enormous  structure  of  the  First  National  Bank  Building, 
which  probably  forever  will  expose  its  bare  party  walls  to  the  crowds  passing 
over  Grand  Avenue  Bridge.     Compare  pictures  on  following  two   pages. 


on  a  water  front.  Such  is  the  view,  always  conspicuous,  presented  by  the  buildings 
facing  the  Milwaukee  River  on  either  side.  The  Milwaukee  River  at  present  is  a 
part  of  the  Harbor  of  Milwaukee.  The  necessity,  however,  of  opening  as  many 
as  ten  bridges  for  this  river  traffic,  makes  the  use  of  Milwaukee  River,  as  a  part  of 
the  harbor,  most  uneconomic.  It  has  been  calculated  by  Professor  Davis  that  the 
opening  and  closing  of  the  Milwaukee  River  bridges  causes  an  average  expense  of 
thirteen  cents  for  every  ton  of  freight  going  up  the  Milwaukee  River.  This  is  a 
tax  levied  upon  the  community  at  large,  which  should  speedily  lead  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  Milwaukee  River  as  a  part  of  the  harbor. 

The  question  arises.  What  shall  become  of  the  Milwaukee  River  after  its  dis- 
use as  part  of  the  Port?  Already  in  the  erection  of  a  number  of  new  buildings, 
the  new  idea  of  considering  the  river  front  as  important  as  the  street  front  has 
been  accepted,  and  architecturally  well  developed  facades  now  appear  on  either 
shore,  as,  for  instance,  the  Marshall-Ilsley  Bank  and  the  First  National  Bank,  with 
its  interesting  terrace.  This  idea  should  be  encouraged,  and  gradually  the  river 
will  be  transformed  into  a  beautiful  canal  almost  Venetian  in  character.  The 
bridges  could  become  permanent  and  still  leave  sufficient  space  for  pleasure  boats 


CANAL  GRANDE,  VENICE,  ITALY 

one  of  the  finest  examples  of  a  water  course    lined    harmoniously    with    beautiful 
buildings. 

or  even  for  a  kind  of  rapid-transit  service  on  the  river  somewhat  like  the 
"bateaux-mouches"  on  the  River  Seine  in  Paris.  Another  possible  treatment  of 
the  river  would  be  to  have  a  street  on  one  side,  leaving  the  structures  on  the  other 
side  rise  directly  out  of  the  water  as  they  do  at  present.  Architect  A.  C.  Clas  has 
made  another  proposal,  namely,  the  building  of  streets  on  both  sides  of  the  river, 
and  others  again  propose  to  have  the  entire  river  covered,  emptying  its  water  into 
the  lake  through  a  tunnel  further  north  and  using  the  dry  river-bed  in  connection 
with  a  new  solution  of  the  railroad  situation.  This  latter  scheme  would  be 
advantageous  if  a  combination  of  the  passenger  terminal  facilities  in  this  city  could 
be  secured  and  a  modern  system  of  through  routing  be  introduced.  Mr.  Clas' 
scheme  contemplates  locations  for  the  interurban  service  under  the  pavements  of 
the  two  streets  on  either  side.  What  the  right  solution  of  the  problem  is  can  be 
determined  only  after  a  very  careful  investigation  of  the  needs  of  street  traffic, 
electric  street  car  traffic  and  the  railroad  situation,  studying  these  closely  related 
subjects  comprehensively  in  their  entirety  and  their  interrelation.  Whatever  will 
be  done,  the  supposition  that  the  facades  facing  the  river  cannot  be  seen  by  the 
public  and  that  any  kind  of  treatment  is  good  enough  for  them  must  be  abandoned. 
The  river  is  not  a  back-yard,  but  offers  rather  exceptional  building  sites  which  are 
more  in  view  of  the  public  than  most  others.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  two 
corner  buildings,  the  Pabst  Building  and  the  Gimbel  Store,  which  close  up  the  vistas 
of  Grand  Avenue  looking  East  and  of  Wisconsin  Street  looking  West.     The  Pabst 


32 


KOENIGS-ALLEE,  MAIN  BUSINESS  STREET  OF  DUSSELDORF, 
GERMANY 
The  business  houses  line  up  back  of  the  trees  at  the  right.  One  of  the  finest 
examples  which  show  that  a  main  business  street  of  a  large  city  can  be  beautifully 
parked.  These  plantings  of  the  banks  of  an  old  moat  also  furnish  a  suggestion  for 
the  ultimate  treatment  of  Milwaukee  River  in  the  downtown  section  after  its  trans- 
formation as  discussed  on  pages  31  and  32. 


Building  is  particularly  successful  in  this  regard,  and  it  is  hoped  that  especial 
attention  will  be  paid  to  the  future  building  which  will  terminate  the  Wisconsin 
Street  vista. 

THE  CIVIC  CENTER. 

A  dignified  treatment  of  the  architectural  facades  along  the  river  front  is  especi- 
ally important  in  connection  with  the  civic  center  idea.  The  principal  function 
of  a  Civic  Center  is  to  so  group  the  public  buildings  of  a  community  that  the  money 
expended  on  them  will  not  be  frittered  away  on  ineffectual  efforts,  but  so  that  every 
cent  invested  will  contribute  towards  producing  a  large  unit,  really  expressive  of 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  city.  ; 

The  civic  center,  together  with  the  parks,  is  that  feature  of  city  planning  which 
so  far  has  been  most  strongly  emphasized  in  the  public  discussions  of  Milwaukee. 
The  Metropolitan  Park  Commission,  after  proposing  a  Civic  Center  plan  in  1909, 
went  so  far  as  to  invite  two  experts  to  study  and  report  on  the  best  location  for 
the  civic  center.  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  and  Dr.  John  Nolen,  leading 
American  City  planners,  spent  a  week  in  Milwaukee,  examining  the  plans  of  the 
civic  center,  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  Metropolitan  Park  Commission. 
This  special  investigation  of  the  problem  led  to  practically  an  indorsement  of  the 
Metropolitan  Park  Commission's  plan  and  the  making  of  some  valuable  sugges- 
tions for  their  improvement.  The  two  experts  emphatically  emphasized  the  gen- 
eral advantages  of  a  location  of  the  Civic  Center  in  the  axis  of  Cedar  Street  and 
Ninth  Street,  comprising  the  territory  between  Tenth  and  Fourth  Street,  Wells  and 
State  Street.     Regarding  this  site,  the  two  consultants  declare: 

"So  far  as  concerns  the  practical  question  of  comparison  with  any  possible 
alternative  site,  such  disadvantages  as  are  peculiar  to  the  site  proposed  are 


PLAN  FOR  THE  CIVIC  CENTER  OF  MILWAUKEE  ON  THE  AXIS  OF 

CEDAR  STREET 

as  recommended  by  the  Metropolitan  Park    Commission    in    1909,   containing   the 

modifications  suggested  by  Messrs.  F.  L.  Olmsted  and  John  Nolen. 


emphatically  outweighed,  in  our  opinion,  by  its  manifest  advantages,  notably 
its  proximity  to  the  business  center  combined  with  the  economy  of  purchase, 
a  visual  relationship  to  the  City  Hall,  and  an  arrangement  of  grades  favorable 
to  a  fine,  artistic  composition. 

As  to  the  general  proposition,  therefore,  of  grouping  the  principal  future 
public  buildings  about  an  open  space  or  spaces  arranged  on  the  axis  of  Cedar 
Street,  between  the  crest  of  the  hill  at  Ninth  Street  and  the  City  Hall,  we  can 
only  congratulate  the  community  upon  the  existence  of  such  an  opportunity 
and  urgently  advise  that  it  be  not  lost  by  delay." 
In  the  description  of  this  site,  the  two  experts  further  say: 

"In  many  respects,  the  site  may  be  said  to  resemble  that  of  the  United 
States  Capitol.  There,  as  here,  in  approaching  from  the  city  by  street  cars 
or  other  vehicles,  people  ascend  the  hill  to  the  right  or  the  left  of  the  main 
axis  and  enter  the  building  from  the  upper  level,  while  the  direct  access  by 
people  on  foot  is  by  means  of  the  steps  and  terraces  on  the  opposite  side, 
terraces  which  add  enormously  to  the  architectural  effect  of  the  building  as 
seen  from  the  lower  ground  and  which  in  turn  command  a  most  important 
outlook  over  the  space  below  them.  The  elevation  of  the  building  upon  such 
a  system  of  terraces  will  not  only  contribute  greatly  to  its  effect  as  seen  from 
the  rest  of  the  Civic  Center,  but  is  very  important  in  respect  to  its  appearance 
as  seen  from  the  west." 

In  view  of  such  an  emphatic  endorsement  of  one  definite  site,  given  by  two  of 
the  leading  men  in  the  profession  in  this  country,  and  based  upon  a  special  study, 
the  author  of  this  report,  not  having  been  able  to  give  to  this  matter  as  much  time 
as  did  the  two  gentlemen  in  question,  does  not  feel  justified  in  making  further  com- 
ment. It  may  be  added  that  since  the  above  opinion  was  delivered,  conditions 
have  changed  very  little.  Two  criticisms  of  this  approved  site  are  sometimes  heard. 
The  one  comes  from  advocates  of  the  east  side  interests,  who  wish  to  keep  the 
court  house  where  it  now  stands,  but  who  do  not  consider  the  fact  that,  first,  the 
selection  of  a  civic  center  site  is  not  necessarily  tied  up  with  the  location  of  the 


34 


(  iBll||i;;3l  lii.iil 


LITTLE  MARKET  SQUARE  IN  ESSEN— MARGARETENHOEHE. 

GERMANY 

Around  this  square  are  grouped  harmoniously  buildings  of  several  different  types. 

The  co-operative  department  store  is  at  the  left,  with  the  stalls  of  the  free  public 

market  in  front.     At  the  right  and  left  are  small  apartment  houses,  while  the  hotel 

(not  shown  in  the  picture)  is  opposite  the  department  store. 

court  house,  and  second,  that  the  very  desirable  introduction  of  the  court  house  as 
one  of  the  main  features  of  the  civic  center  can  hardly  be  thought  of  if  the  court 
house  is  to  be  kept  in  its  old  location.  Land  values  in  that  neighborhood  are  too 
high  to  permit  the  acquirement  of  sufficient  land  to  group  other  public  buildings 
around  it.  The  old  antagonism  between  east  and  west  reminds  of  the  jealousy  of 
Kilbourne  vs.  Juneau,  and  is  unworthy  in  view  of  the  great  object  to  be  achieved. 
The  other  criticism  of  the  Ninth  and  Cedar  Street  site  is  that  the  civic  center 
should  be  located  on  the  lake  front.  The  answer  to  this  criticism  is  that  the  site 
selected  by  the  Metropolitan  Park  Commission  and  endorsed  by  Messrs.  Olmsted 
and  Nolen,  has  the  great  advantage  of  joining  together  the  present  Public  Library 
(to  be  enlarged  to  Wells  Street),  the  Auditorium,  and  by  visual  relation,  also  the 
City  Hall,  and  furthermore,  the  main  a.xis  between  the  City  Hall  and  the  Court 
House,  crossing  the  river,  would  cause  the  Milwaukee  River  to  be  an  essential  fea- 
ture in  the  civic  center  scheme.  This  connection  with  the  river  will  prove  a  special 
attraction  if  the  Milwaukee  River  is  transformed  and  beautified  as  referred  to 
above.  The  fact  that  there  is  no  architectural  connection  between  the  suggested 
civic  center  site  and  the  lake  remains,  but  it  is  probably  impossible  to  enjoy  all 
possible  advantages  at  the  same  time.     It  must  be  remembered  that  a  location  on 


35 


the  lake  could  hardly  be  called  a  central  one,  and  a  central  location,  as  the  name 
itself  suggests,  is  desirable  for  a  civic  center. 

Besides,  a  location  on  the  lake,  in  addition  to  the  practical  impossibility  of 
securing  it,  could  be  reached  from  the  south  side  only  with  difficulty.  If  the 
present  Court  House  site  is  abandoned,  the  square  will  serve  as  a  much  needed  park 
for  the  dwellers  in  the  congested  sections.  It  will  also  serve  as  a  needed  fore- 
ground for  the  beautiful  cathedral  tower. 

CONCLUSION:  DEFINITION  OF  THE  TERM 
"CITY  PLANNING". 

In  the  foregoing  some  of  the  most  important  aspects  of  city  planning  for  Mil- 
waukee have  been  dealt  with.  The  comprehensive  treatment  of  these  various 
problems  is  necessary.  City  planning  means  co-ordination  of  the  activities  that 
make  for  the  growth  of  the  city,  especially  the  activities  of  railroad  and  harbor 
engineers,  landscape  architects,  street  building  and  civil  engineers,  builders  of  fac- 
tories, of  offices,  of  public  buildings  and  dwelling  houses.  Without  such  pre- 
planning co-ordination,  clashes  between  these  different  activities,  unsatisfactory 
results,  and  most  expensive  re-arrangements  become  unavoidable.  City  Planning, 
therefore,  does  not  mean  additional  expenditure  of  money,  but  it  means  an  insur- 
ance against  waste  and  inefficient  expenditure  of  the  enormous  sums  that  go — in 
the  regular  course  of  events — into  the  development  of  a  progressive  city. 

No  civic  progress  can  be  expected  without  planning  for  it. 

Werner  Hegemann, 

City  Planning  Consultant, 

New  York,  70  Fifth  Avenue. 


^.J^^^ 


r-  -. 


<^' 


pX^^ 


PUBLIC  PARK  IN  THE  NEW   GERMAN   STYLE   IN    OLDEN- 
BURG.    DESIGNED  BY  L.  MIGGE. 

36 


APPENDIX 


EXTRACTS 

SELECTED   BY   MR.  W.  H.  SCHUCHARDT,   PRESIDENT   OF 
THE  WISCONSIN  CHAPTER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  INSTI- 
TUTE OF  ARCHITECTS,  FROM  DR.  W.  HEGEMANNS 
REPORT  ON  A  CITY  PLAN  FOR  THE  MUNICI- 
PALITIES OF  OAKLAND  AND  BERKE- 
LEY, CALIFORNIA,  1915. 


THE  ASSET  OF  A  HARBOR. 

The  development  of  the  wide  area  of  a  modern  great  city  necessarily  rests  on 
the  economic  basis  of  commerce  and  industry.  The  most  efficient  instrument  of 
commerce  and  industry  is  a  large  harbor.  The  harbor  binds  together  railroad  and 
water  transportation  and  produces  at  the  place  of  exchange  between  land  and  water 
the  ideal  industrial  site  with  the  possibility  of  cheaply  transforming,  combining  and 
distributing  the  transient  goods.  All  large  cities  necessarily  must  have  large  har- 
bors. London,  probably  the  only  city  in  the  world  that  ever  attained  a  popula- 
tion of  one  million  people  before  the  introduction  of  railroads,  achieved  this  result 
only  on  the  basis  of  the  famous  London  harbor.  The  coat  of  arms  of  Paris  since 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  has  been  a  sailing  vessel,  and  to-day  Paris, 
though  it  is  located  far  from  the  ocean,  on  a  comparatively  small  river  only,  is  the 
largest  harbor  of  France,  with  a  tonnage  of  fifteen  millions,  twice  as  much  as 
Marseilles,  the  great  French  ocean  harbor.  Forty-three  per  cent,  of  all  the  imports 
of  Berlin  come  by  water. 

THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  A   MODERN   INDUSTRIAL  HARBOR. 

A  modern  industrial  harbor  does  away  with  the  expensive  handling  of  the  prod- 
ucts between  factory  and  steamer  by  truck,  and  in  many  cases  may  eliminate  even 
the  freight  car  as  an  intermediary.  As  soon  as  direct  water  approach  is  given  to 
every  factory  that  can  make  use  of  it,  the  ship  and  dock  winches,  swinging  and 
traveling  cranes,  bucket  elevators,  belt  conveyors,  derricks,  lifting  towers,  grab 
buckets  and  bolsters  can  put  their  superhuman  powers  to  work  with  a  marvelous 
intelligence  and  reap  the  hundredfold  harvest  of  true  efficiency. 

To  lift  the  raw  materials  directly  from  the  hold  of  the  vessel  into  the  claws  of 
the  transforming  machinery  and  to  drop  the  finished  goods  directly  after  leaving 
the  last  process  of  transformation  into  another  vessel  or  into  the  freight  car:  this 
means  to  do  away  with  unnecessary  handling  and  waste  of  time,  one  of  the  impor- 
tant items  in  the  cost  of  old-time  manufacture.  This  ideal  efficiency  is  the  logical 
goal  aimed  at  by  modern  development.  Wherever  the  centralization  of  the  mod- 
ern capitalistic  forces  has  permitted  the  application  of  the  best  methods  and 
thought,  the  waste  in  local  handling  is  eliminated.  Even  the  simplest  minded  could 
not  but  smile  if  he  tried  to  imagine,  for  instance,  the  Richmond  Standard  Oil  Re- 
finery, with  its  60,000  barrels  daily  production,  ferrying  its  oil  across  the  Bay  to 
peninsular  San  Francisco,  or  operating  under  as  inefficient  methods  as  the  Oakland 
or  Berkeley  merchant  who  loads  his  finished  goods  on  a  truck,  teams  them  down  to 
Oakland  or  Berkeley  wharf,  unloads  them  and  reloads  them  on  a  Bay   steamer, 

38 


crosses  the  Bay  and  unloads  and  reloads  once  or  twice  before  the  ocean  steamer 
is  reached.  Avoiding  every  bit  of  unnecessary  handling  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant factors  that  determined  the  choice  of  the  organization  of  the  sites  of  Standard 
Oil  or  United  States  Steel  plants;  one  has  to  think  only  of  the  new  Standard  Oil 
Works  on  the  Bay  or  of  Gary,  the  huge  and  suddenly  developed  steel  town  on 
Lake  Michigan. 


As  serious  as  the  losses  in  money,  time  and  competing  power  by  the  shippers  of 
car-load  lots  are  the  sufferings  of  the  shipper  of  less  than  car-load  lots.  The  ship- 
ping of  less  than  car-load  lots  is  a  very  important  item  in  the  economic  make  up  of 
an  industrial  community.  The  character  of  the  trade  of  large  producers  often  is 
such  that  their  shipments  have  to  be  split  up  into  small  lots  to  different  addresses; 
and  besides  the  big  producer  in  every  growing  community  there  are  many  small 
producers  that  are  building  up  new  industries.  These  growing  new  industries,  just 
starting  from  small  beginnings,  are  of  great  importance  for  the  future  of  any  indus- 
trial community,  if  they  can  prosper  and  develop  into  large  industries  under  favor- 
able conditions.  They  are  strangled,  however,  if  the  conditions  of  local  handling 
and  local  expense  are  adverse. 

THE  EQUITABLE  BASIS  UPON  WHICH  TO  SOLVE  RAILROAD 
PROBLEMS. 

Another  of  the  leading  authorities  of  this  country,  Bion  J.  Arnold,  in  his  new 
Chicago  Railroad  Terminal  Report,  says :  "The  easiest  thing  for  the  city  to  do  is 
to  require  nothing  and  to  let  the  railroads  have  what  they  ask ;  the  most  difficult 
thing  for  the  city  to  do  is  to  require  the  railroad  companies  to  carry  out  the  plan 
best  suited  to  the  entire  city,  at  their  own  expense;  the  just  thing  to  do  is  to  join 
with  the  railroads  in  carrying  out,  on  some  equitable  basis,  the  plan  which  will 
gradually  put  into  effect  such  recommendations  as  are  considered  sound." 

Mr.  Arnold  makes  very  clear  in  many  passages  of  his  report  that  there  is  no 
disposition  on  his  part  to  cause  the  railways  loss  or  inconvenience,  but  that  he 
sincerely  believes  such  co-operation  between  the  railroads  and  the  city  will  ulti- 
mately benefit  both  parties  concerned.  It  is  such  a  broad  and  liberal  spirit  that  I 
would  invoke  to  solve  the  present  and  all  future  problems  of  railroad  transportation 
in  the  East  Shore  cities. 

LAWS   OF  GROWTH  IN  RAILROAD  TRAFFIC. 

To  some  it  may  seem  that  there  is  no  pressing  necessity  for  careful  guarding 
against  such  expensive  mistakes  as  those  that  old  cities,  or  even  comparatively  new 
cities  like  Chicago,  are  endeavoring  to  remedy.  But  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  it 
is  a  well  established  law  that  freight  and  passenger  traffic  will  increase  with  much 
greater  rapidity  than  population.  The  law  briefly  stated  is:  train  movement  in- 
creases as  the  square,  and  the  number  of  passengers  as  the  cube,  of  the  population. 


RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  THE  REAL  ESTATE  SUBDIVIDER. 

The  duties  and  responsibilities  which  fall  upon  the  modern  subdivider  can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  They  are  especially  comprehensive  in  the  American  city, 
which,  unlike  the  German  city,  does  not  closely  supervise  the  subdividing  activities 
(city-planning),  but  leaves  all  responsibility  with  the  private  individual.  To  lay  out 
a  subdivision  of  any  grade  in  a  satisfactory  way  from  the  many  points  of  view  that 
have  to  be  considered,  including  all  the  questions  of  transportation,  proper  type  of 
streets,  width,  planting,  paving,  sewers,  wires,  etc.,  the  proper  size  of  lots,  artistic 

39 


and  pleasing  lines  for  the  streets  and  their  grades,  the  proper  grouping  of  the  lots 
in  order  to  make  architectural  effects  possible,  the  question  of  proper  restrictions 
and  their  enforcement,  the  supervision  of  the  architecture,  not  to  speak  of  the 
complicated,  economic  and  legal  side  of  the  whole  process,  and  the  ingenuity  and 
push  needed  in  order  to  successfully  market  the  property — this  all  demands  a  very 
high  degree  of  skill,  experience,  imagination  and  enterprise.  First  class  service 
and  the  best  expert  advice  in  this  field  will  always  call  for  high  remuneration. 
Unfortunately,  the  profit  that  can  be  made  on  more  expensive  developments  com- 
pared with  the  cheap  lots  considered  in  the  above  example  is  disproportionately 
much  larger.  This  is  very  unfortunate  for  the  small  lot,  because  it  means  that  the 
best  professional  intelligence  available  necessarily  must  be  inclined  to  turn  to  more 
expensive  development  and  neglect  the  socially  so  important  cheap  subdivisions. 
Every  effort  therefore  must  be  made  to  cut  down  avoidable  expenses  in  the 
development  of  the  home  site  for  the  workingman. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  BUYER. 

Since  the  commissions  of  the  salesman  is  an  item  on  which  considerable  savings 
can  be  made,  the  role  of  the  salesman  as  an  educator  of  the  hesitating  buyer  to 
home  ideals,  must  be  taken  over  by  public  opinion  and  semi-public  agencies.  Like 
the  cities  of  Europe,  the  American  cities,  or  semi-public  bodies  for  them,  must  con- 
tribute to  the  establishment  of  healthy  home  standards.  One  of  the  ways  in  which 
this  can  be  done  is  by  the  establishment  of  a  public  or  semi-public  agency  for 
reliable  information  about  homes  available  for  rent  or  purchase.  The  character  of 
this  agency  must  be  so  high  that  its  passing  upon  and  offering  of  a  certain  unit 
type  of  homes  will  be  sufficient  to  destroy  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  the  home 
seeker. 

LOANS   ON  WORKINGMEN'S  HOMES. 

An  important  item  where  large  savings  in  securing  the  small  home  can  be  made, 
is  the  interest  on  the  money.  The  policy  of  the  Savings  Banks  and  of  the  institu- 
tions for  life  and  old  age  insurance  have  led  already,  in  many  examples  in  Europe 
to  lending  money  for  home  purposes  at  4',  or  less.  The  American  Postal  Savings 
Banks,  which  collect  the  savings  of  the  small  investor,  ought  to  do  similar  work. 
The  city  might  also  lend  its  guarantee  to  bonds  issued  by  co-operative  building 
societies,  thus  securing  to  them  a  low  rate  of  interest.  Several  Australian  states 
started  most  successfully  on  these  lines;  I  had  occasion  to  inspect  the  gratifying 
results  of  the  South  Australian  law  modeled  upon  the  New  Zealand  act. 

THE  HOUSING  INDUSTRY  RETAINS  SMALL  METHODS  OF  500  YEARS 
AGO,   MODERN   WHOLESALE  METHODS  ARE  NEEDED. 

There  are  other  items  not  connected  with  the  marketing  of  the  land  alone,  in 
which  savings  in  the  cost  of  workingmen's  housing  can  be  made.  Such  an  item 
is  the  cost  of  the  building.  If  building  is  undertaken  on  a  wholesale  basis  by  the 
builders  of  small  houses,  making  use  of  best  professional  advice  and  applying 
wholesale  methods  of  producing  all  the  different  parts  of  the  houses  in  a  satisfac- 
tory way,  great  savings  can  be  made  thereby.  Powerful  movements  in  the  applied 
arts  in  Germany  have  made  it  a  very  common  thing  for  the  large  wholesale  pro- 
ducers to  employ  artists  of  national  reputation  for  designing  the  original  pattern 
for  the  thousand  different  objects  which  are  turned  out  by  the  wholesale  methods 
of  modern  machinery.  If  this  idea  is  applied  to  the  output  of  some  of  the  leading 
Western  lumber  dealers  and  factories,  and  to  the  entire  process  of  building  cheap 
houses,  then  it  will  be  possible  to  produce  highly  satisfactory  units  which  can  be 
assembled  into  houses  suiting  individual  taste,  and  the  clever  grouping  of  which  on 

40 


well  platted  lots  facing  decently  planted  streets  and  squares,  will  surpass  everything 
that  can  be  seen  in  the  wealthier  suburbs.  The  most  inexpensive  workingmen's 
streets  of  famous  garden  suburbs  like  Hellerau,  near  Dresden,  or  Hampstead,  near 
London,  often  set  the  highest  architectural  standard,  which  the  wealthier  parts  of 
the  same  suburbs  have  to  live  up  to.  The  skillful  combination  of  large  building 
enterprises  of  the  kind  described  with  a  progressive  policy  of  real  estate  develop- 
ment is  necessary  to  get  satisfactory  results  from  every  point  of  view,  especially 
from  the  selling  point  of  view. 

THE  GAY  POSSIBILITIES  OF  STREET  ADVERTISING. 

A  similar,  but  even  more  serious  problem,  presents  itself  in  the  billboard  nuis- 
ance— a  specific  American  disease  which  has  caused  so  much  discussion  that  it  does 
not  need  to  be  entered  into  here.  The  cities  of  Europe  by  taxing,  municipalizing 
and  standardizing  all  street  advertising,  draw  a  handsome  revenue  from  it.  The 
advertising  columns  placed  by  these  cities  on  the  street  corners  are  indispensable 
sources  of  information  to  everybody,  and  under  the  powerful  movement  in  the 
applied  arts,  especially  in  Germany,  have  given  rise  to  a  real  art  of  designing  and 
printing  artistic  posters  which,  with  the  help  of  the  leading  painters  of  the  nation, 
has  made  the  advertising  column  of  the  street  corner  one  of  the  gayest  and  most 
charming  features  of  city  life.  The  American  billboard  in  its  exaggerated  size  is 
a  calamity,  financed  expensively  by  the  consumer. 

The  planning  of  parkways  or  residential  streets  with  trees,  shrubs,  flowers  and 
grass  is  perhaps  the  least  expensive  and  most  effective  method  of  beautification 
within  reach  of  the  East  Bay  cities. 

GOOD   FELLOWSHIP  IN  ARCHITECTURAL  STYLES. 

The  happy  results  achieved  in  East  Bay  home  architecture  nearly  all  suffer 
from  their  being  restricted  to  individual  efforts,  while  the  idea  of  correlating  indi- 
vidual houses  in  order  to  secure  heightened  effects  by  intelligent  teamwork  is  still 
comparatively  new  and  little  tried.  Progress  in  this  direction  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary. The  finest  layout  of  a  subdivision,  giving  splendid  views  before  houses  went 
up,  becomes  a  mess  as  soon  as  private  owners  indulge  in  ill-advised  orgies  of  indi- 
vidualism, killing  each  other's  architecture  by  heterogeneous  materials  and  mis- 
taken choices  of  forms  and  colors.  As  soon  as  the  victorious  pride  of  the  self-made 
money  maker,  who  feels  like  urging  his  independence  upon  his  neighbor,  gradually 
is  subdued  by  manners  and  good  fellowship,  civilized  people  reach  an  understanding 
about  how  they  will  meet  not  only  on  social,  but  also  on  architectural  and  land- 
scape architectural  grounds.  Then  the  splendid  effects  of  friendly  co-operation  in 
private  planting  and  building  can  be  reached,  effects  which  form  the  necessary  in- 
troduction and  approach  to  the  still  higher  efforts  in  the  grouping  of  public 
buildings. 


PRESS  REVIEWS 

of  the  two  first  volumes  of 

"DER  STAEDTEBAU  NACH  DEN  ERGEBNISSEN  DER  ALLGEMEINEN 
STAEDTEBAU    AUSSTELLUNG."    ("CITY  PLANNING  ACCORD- 
ING TO  THE  RESULTS  OF  THE   INTERNATIONAL   CITY 
PLANNING     EXHIBITION.")      BY    DR.    WERNER 
HEGEMANN.     BERLIN,  ERNST  WASMUTH, 
A.  G.     Vol.  I,  igii.     Vol.  II,  1913. 

This  is  the  second  volume  of  a  monumental  work  on  city-planning,  which  deals 
not  merely  with  principles  and  theories,  but  discusses  the  existing  conditions  and 
problems  of  the  largest  cities  of  Europe  and  America,  and  the  discussions  and  con- 
clusions upon  the  materials  which  made  up  the  Berlin  and  Dusseldorf  City-Planning 
Exhibits. 

The  whole  of  Dr.  Hegemann's  work,  which  is  to  be  completed  in  three  volumes, 
is  intended  both  as  an  exposition  of  the  history  of  city  planning,  and  as  an  interpre- 
tation of  the  most  recent  developments  in  community  building.  The  city-planning 
exhibits,  which  were  organized  under  the  supervision  of  the  author,  and  which 
represented  a  vast  amount  of  important  material  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  are  given  permanency  through  this  work.  The  main  value  of  the  book, 
however,  is  to  be  found  in  the  impartial  and  critical  interpretation  of  the  value  of 
past  and  existing  plans,  and  their  social,  economic  and  esthetic  significance.  City- 
planning  exhibits  are  generally  prepared  for  the  purpose  of  educating  public  opinion 
and  rendering  possible  the  comparison  of  essentials.  The  subjects  dealt  with, 
however,  are  so  complicated,  so  difficult  for  the  ordinary  public  to  understand,  and 
so  subject  to  differences  of  opinion,  that  no  exhibit  renders  full  service  to  the  com- 
munity, or  to  the  world  at  large,  unless  its  various  departments  and  individual 
charts  and  maps  are  weighed  in  the  balance  of  expert  knowledge,  and  with  a  proper 
understanding  of  the  local  conditions  which  have  called  forth  their  creation.  This 
Dr.  Hegemann  accomplishes  in  his  work. 

Transit  and  means  of  intercommunication,  community  expansions,  open  spaces, 
and  the  general  plans  of  the  larger  cities  are  discussed  in  this  work  clearly,  con- 
cisely and  with  a  wealth  of  statistical  and  historical  information,  combined  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  factors  that  have  determined  certain  developments.  The  maps 
and  charts,  as  well  as  the  half-tone  reproductions  of  photographs,  make  the  volume 
almost  indispensable  as  a  reference  book  for  the  city  planner. 

Whether  we  agree  or  not  with  the  various  points  of  view  that  the  author  pre- 
sents, it  must  be  conceded  that  he  has  mastered  his  subject,  and  that  he  has  placed 
before  us  documentary  evidence  that  has  never  been  collected  and  organized  before, 
and  which  serves  to  clear  up  many  important  points  regarding  the  history  and  the 
application  of  the  science  of  community  building  and  the  art  of  city  planning. 
From  the  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects. 

Our  nation  in  the  near  future  will  have  to  discuss  Dr.  Werner  Hegemann's 
comprehensive  work  about  city  planning.  This  book  will  revolutionize  the  ideas 
and  sentiments  of  all  earnest  Germans,  for  it  is  more  than  the  product  of  an  aston- 
ishing learnedness  and  practical  knowledge;  it  is  the  expression  of  a  passionate 
soul.     This  book  is  a  deed  and  will  create  deeds. 

Professor  Alfred  Lichtwark,  Director  of  the  State  Art  Institute, 
Hamburg,  author  of  "Royal  Cities  of  Germany,"  "City  plan- 
ning," etc.,  in  the  "Hamburger  Fremdenblatt." 

42 


Aside  from  the  transactions  of  the  scientific  congresses  the  most  important  pub- 
lication of  the  year  igii  in  the  field  of  housing  literature  is  Dr.  Werner  Hege- 
mann's  great  work  on  "City  Planning,"  the  outcome  of  the  epoch-making  Berlin 
City-planning  Exhibition.  The  first  volume  of  this  monumental  work  is  a  very 
valuable  and  significant  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  housing  problem,  especi- 
ally in  Germany  and  Berlin. 

Dr.  C.  J.  Fuchs,  Professor  of  Tuebingen  University,  a  leading  au- 
thority in  Germany  on  housing  problems,  in  "Annalen  fuer 
sociale  Politik  und  Gesetzgebung." 

Dr.  Werner  Hegemann  is  not  a  prosy  relator  merely  lining  up  facts,  but  he  is  a 
personality  of  ethical  power  following  the  march  of  events  with  passionate  interest. 
The  subject  of  the  book  in  its  various  stages  is  interesting  in  itself  and  through 
the  author's  literary  ability  the  reader  is  kept  in  continuous  tension. 

Dr.  Werner  Weisbach,  Professor  of  History  of  Fine  Arts  at  the 
University  of  Berlin,  in  "Prussian  Yearbooks." 

Here  the  author  has  written  a  first  class  work  on  city  planning  in  Berlin,  and 
on  city  planning,  housing  and  land  problems  in  general.  By  its  abundance  of  evi- 
dence, clearness  of  judgment  and  by  its  captivating  eloquence  the  book  almost 
forces  the  reader  into  sympathy  and  action. 

From  Schmoller's  Yearbook,  leading  German  periodical  for 
Political  Economy. 

A  standard  work  on  the  history  of  Berlin  city  building. 

Berliner  Tageblatt. 

If  the  second  and  third  volumes  prove  to  be  as  perfect  as  the  first,  which  I  do 
not  doubt,  we  shall  have  a  standard  work  such  as  of  which  there  are  few  in 
existence. 

Dr.  J.  Stuebben,  Prussian  Privy  Councilor,  author  of  "Der 
Staedtebau." 

"Of  foreign  manuals  Dr.  Werner  Hegemann's  'Der  Staedtebau'  (two  volumes 
published),  Berlin,  igii  and  1913,  may  be  especially  recommended." 

Professor  Patrick  Geddes  in  "Cities  in  Evolution,"  London,  19 15. 

The  author  has  rendered  by  his  work  a  great  service  to  our  country.  The  book 
for  a  long  time  will  be  a  wellspring  of  information  and  suggestion  to  all  connected 
with  city  planning.  To  administrators,  engineers,  architects  and  landscape  archi- 
tects this  work  should  be  most  warmly  recommended. 

Professor  Theodor  Goecke,  Prussian  Privy  Councilor,  Founder 
and  Editor  of  "Der  Staedtebau,"  the  leading  city  planning 
monthly. 

The  book  is  a  real  treasure  for  the  student  of  city  planning  conditions  in  Euro- 
pean and  American  cities  and  contains  a  wealth  of  information  that  is  astounding. 
Dr.  Hegemann  as  General  Secretary  of  the  great  City  Planning  Exhibition  in  Berlin 
and  Duesseldorf  has,  as  hardly  anyone  else,  secured  a  grasp  of  the  city  planning 
material  of  the  entire  world.  The  appearance  of  the  book  represents  a  milestone  in 
the  development  of  city  planning  ideas. 

Professor  Hermann  Muthesius,  Privy  Councilor  in  the  Prussian 
Ministry  of  Commerce  and  one  of  the  leading  architects  and 
architectural  critics  of  modern  Germany  in  "Ueber  Land  und 
Meer." 


OtSSiZlZOOO 


